The Quest for Greatness
by Warrior of Hope
Summary: After moving to the Sinnoh Region because of a traumatic past, Will Knight is ready to go on his own journey through the region that he now calls home. However, there's one major difference between him and his competition in the Sinnoh League. He doesn't care about becoming champion. Will just wants to be the strongest trainer there is and will do whatever it takes to get there.
1. The Search for Strength

**Updated 1/16/19.**

 **Even only 7 chapters in, I look back at this and know it could be better. However, I like to show how far I've come as a writer, so I don't plan to edit it. If you decide to stick through this less-than-great writing, just know that the quality improves as the chapters go on. Thanks for reading! :)**

* * *

All fires start as a single flame, a small spark trying to burn. With the proper fuel, a tiny flame can transform into a raging inferno, incapable of being stopped. However, if there isn't enough oxygen, it will die. Similarly, human potential has both the capability of being extinguished in a single moment or rising up and growing into an unstoppable inferno. However, a snuffed-out fire still smolders before it disappears forever. With but a spark, the flame will once again burn, with the possibility of burning even brighter than before.

Hidden inside the depths of a cave near Lake Acuity in the snowy, barren landscape of northern Sinnoh was one such flame. Barely still lit, the bright orange flame danced across a pile of thick branches found around the lake. The twigs supporting the blaze were flimsy and looked as though they were going to fall over at any time. Wind and snow pushed further and further inside of the cave's entrance, coming closer to the fire with every passing moment. However, the flame fought on despite its appearance flickering with the flow of the breeze.

Sitting on a flat stone by the fire was a young man with spiky brown hair; his bright green eyes were staring intently at the flames, never once flinching as the fire crackled. He was watching the fire so intensely that he hadn't moved for nearly half an hour. Naught but the orange, flickering flames attracted his gaze. Despite the attention, though, the blaze continued to burn, its only movements being the dancing with the wind.

Despite the freezing cold temperatures of northern Sinnoh, the teen was wearing only a pair of blue jeans, an unzipped gray jacket, and a red long-sleeved shirt. The fire did nothing to warm him, yet he did not shiver once. Instead, he continued his staring, seemingly entranced by the dancing sparks of the flame.

After another twenty minutes of silence, the young man dropped his gaze. He stood up and from the stone that he had been perched on for nearly an hour. A black Poke Ball belt upon his waist was visible as he stood up, though he had only one such capsule attached. The teen turned towards the cave's opening and watched the snow come down just as hard as it was nearly an hour previous when he entered the cave. With no sign of letting up anytime soon, the teen decided he had waited long enough.

"Let's go, Pyro."

The teen spoke in a low, stolid tone at no one in particular. However, immediately upon speaking, he heard a quick scratching of talons against stone from behind him. A small chick Pokemon was scrambling to his clawed feet, his yellow wings and orange feathers fluttering in the wind. The Torchic had been dozing up until that moment against the side of the cave in the shadows, kept warm by the flame in his belly. He instantly perked up as soon as he heard his trainer's voice, though, his eyes shining with excitement.

"Sounds good, Will! I was starting to fall asleep anyways!" the bird responded with the help of a small translator.

Like all domesticated Pokemon, a translator for any language was inserted into Pyro when he was captured. With the creation of the recent technology, Poke Balls were designed to automatically—and painlessly—implant them into all captured Pokemon.

The Torchic beamed at his trainer, but the young man, Will, said nothing in response. He continued staring at the snow outside the entrance, having never turned towards Pyro when the creature spoke. However, before he left and braved the wintry weather, the brunet walked over to the fire—still continuing to burn despite all odds stacked against it. In one fell swoop, Will forcefully stomped down upon the flames, restricting the flow of oxygen to the fire and extinguishing it in a single moment. Only smoldering ashes remained then.

Without another word, the duo headed into the cold as the smoldering ashes of the fire slowly died, finally losing its long, futile battle.

* * *

Back at Acuity Lakefront, Will and Pyro began walking due east, headed towards Snowpoint City. For nearly six years, Will and his parents—Leanne and Douglas Knight—have lived in the snowy, northern city. They had previously lived in the Hoenn region but moved immediately after Will's tenth birthday. Now, they lived in Snowpoint City, a town with few citizens—and no one near Will in age—due to the frigid temperatures year-round.

The pair was walking side by side in complete silence other than the crisp sounds of their stomping through fields of snow. Neither Will nor Pyro said a word to the other as they walked, but this was a common occurrence. Being partners for nearly nine years, Pyro knew that Will was no longer the young, innocent boy that he once was when they met. However, there was a difference between their usual silence and this feeling that Pyro had.

"What's on your mind?" he asked innocently, all the while continuing to walk alongside the teen. "You're quiet today—even more so than normal."

Will kept up his pace, his face revealing no sign of him having even heard the Pokemon. Pyro didn't press his trainer, though. The teen continued walking in silence for another ten seconds before finally responding to the Torchic's question.

"Tomorrow's the day," he said simply. "We leave in the morning."

In less than twenty-four hours, Will was going to turn sixteen, the minimum age to become a Pokemon Trainer in the Sinnoh Region. His birthday should have been a happy occasion because of that, or so Pyro believed at least. They had to wait an extra four years as the previous trainer age of twelve was changed only months before Will came of age, so Pyro figured that Will must have been excited, even if he wouldn't show it.

"Yeah, it'll be great!" Pyro smiled as his eyes twinkled with excitement. "We're finally going on a journey together!"

Will opened his mouth to say something, but quickly snapped it shut, biting down hard on his bottom lip. He continued to stare straight ahead, as silent as ever. The small Pokemon next to him either didn't notice any of what had just happened or said nothing, but after waiting for nearly thirty seconds without a response from his trainer, Pyro stopped walking abruptly.

Surprised by the sudden stop, Will stopped as well and turned to his right, pivoting on his left foot and stomping his right into the snow. He turned towards Pyro to see the Chick Pokemon with his head tilted to the left, frowning as he stared right at Will with a blank look. The scene caught Will off guard; Pyro didn't normally question him about anything anymore. The teen sent the same look back towards the Pokemon, though he also furrowed his brow in an almost angry way. The two stood in silence for nearly a full minute before Pyro spoke.

"I'm confused, Will," he began. "I thought that you were ready for us to go on our journey."

The teen nodded his head in response, signaling that he was. However, he vocalized nothing, instead choosing to wait for the chick to continue with his thought. Recognizing this, Pyro continued.

"We've been preparing for this day since the day we met and became partners. Sure, we've had our ups and downs, but that day is behind us. We can start to finally move past it tomorrow. It wasn't your—"

"—It was."

Will cut Pyro off, not letting him finish his thought. The teen began to glare harshly, however, not at the Pokemon in front of him, but at the ground beneath his feet. After a moment, though, he shook his head twice slowly and began to inhale deeply. Then, after holding in the breath for a few more seconds, released it just as deliberately.

He stood quietly for another minute, but in the tense silence, that minute felt as though it dragged on for an hour to Pyro. He felt as though he could do nothing but stare as his trainer, waiting for him to open up. Will opened his mouth and took in one more long breath, paused, and released it again.

"I'm ready, Pyro."

The simple answer was much less than what the Pokemon had been hoping for but knew that there was no sense in pushing further. He was more likely to just anger Will if he pressed the issue. Sighing, the chick began to walk again, expecting Will to follow now that the conversation was over.

However, the brunet surprised his partner and added, "You might not think that I'm ready yet, but I'm getting there. I'll become strong."

Pyro went wide-eyed upon hearing that, completely stopped in his tracks. However, if Will noticed, he didn't say anything. Instead, he began walking again, leaving the chick behind as continued to gape. Noticing he was being left behind, he quickly recovered and ran to catch up to his trainer.

The silence between them then persisted until they arrived in Snowpoint City, neither Will nor Pyro able to find anything to say at that point.

* * *

"How was your day, Will?"

A plump woman with a head of long blonde hair and a bright yellow dress was sitting across a circular wooden table from the young man, a wide smile upon her face. Her green eyes sparkled as she stared at Will, the love and care she so obviously felt for the teen clear to see.

"It was alright," he answered, never once actually looking at her as he spoke.

The brunet simply looked down at the plate of food in front of him. As it was his last night home before his birthday and his Pokemon League journey, his family went all out. They were having steaks, mashed potatoes, and green beans—Will's favorite meal. However, the teen only rolled one of the beans around with his fork, his steak and potatoes barely touched.

The woman across from him watched with a crestfallen look at the scene but said nothing. Instead, she took a deep breath in and turned to her right where a man similar in age to her sat eating, watching the scene in front of him with a concerned look. He looked just like an older version of Will, with the same brown hair—though it was better kept than Will's head of spikes, tan skin, and green eyes. Clearing his throat, the man smiled at the blonde woman.

"Thank you, Leanne," he began. Then, looking to his right towards the teen, continued, "This food tastes great! Don't you think, Will?"

The brunet in question looked up towards him briefly and shrugged his shoulders, all the while never making eye contact. He then brought his attention back downwards towards his plate and finally picked up a bite of steak.

"It tastes good," he said, just before eating the bit of food.

The older man—Douglas—sighed, but Leanne smiled slightly, apparently glad to have at least a slight reaction. At the same time, Pyro was sitting across from the older man on a booster seat so that he could also reach the table. He had the same meal in front of him, but unlike Will's plate, the Pokemon's food was nearly completely gone.

"It really is good, Mom!" he exclaimed, looking at Leanne with a sparkle in his eyes. "Dad was so right!"

Pyro, having been with Will since the teen was seven-years-old, was incredibly close with his family. After a few months of living with the Knight family, he too began to call Will's parents Mom and Dad. Despite being a Pokemon, Douglas and Leanne Knight considered Pyro to be their second son, and he saw them as parents.

"Thanks, Pyro!" The woman smiled at the Pokemon to her left, clearly appreciative of the compliment. She looked back towards her son, hoping for a reaction to the Pokemon's words, but when nothing came, she decided she would leave him to his thoughts, as they often did when the teen didn't want to talk.

Throughout the conversation, Will didn't look back up from his plate, considering his part in the discussion to be over. Instead, he thought more about his upcoming journey, a common subject for him recently.

 _I can finally get stronger._ He thought. _As soon as I leave, I can find others to defeat for training. Hardly any trainers ever come here except for those nearing the end of their journeys, and there is no point in me trying to train with them—they'd destroy me at my current level. But not forever._

His pessimistic view on success in battling against others in Snowpoint was not unfounded. In the near six years that he and his family had lived in the northern settlement, they had seen less than ten trainers that were beginning their journey. Of those trainers, nearly all were from the Battle Zone, an island east from Snowpoint that sent only the best of the best to challenge the Pokemon League. Without the formal training that Will could only begin with his Trainer's license at sixteen-years-old, there was no sense in training with them, he knew. It's against the law to participate in any Pokemon League-sanctioned events without a license, so while it was not strictly illegal for trainers to battle with someone without a license such as Will, few would enter that gray area.

 _Whenever my Trainer's License comes in tomorrow, trainers will finally accept my challenge, and with that, I will become strong! No longer will anyone be able to push me around! No one will ever—_

"—you think, Will?"

He heard only the ending of what seemed to be a question directed towards him by his father, causing the brunet to instantly tense up. His shoulders rigid and gaze ever-piercing, Will scanned the dining room and noticed both of his parents and Pyro staring at him expectantly. Will stayed tense, and noticing this reaction, Douglas repeated what he had said, his face revealing only the same caring smile that he almost always wore.

"Ready for tomorrow, do you think, Will?"

The brunet nodded his head, his face still as stolid as ever. He slowly set down the knife and fork that were in his hands onto the table next to his mostly-untouched plate of food. He then clenched his hands into fists as he looked up and to the left, towards his father. With his face devoid of any emotion, Will nodded his head slowly.

"I've been ready for a long time."

The answer seemed simple, but there was more depth to it than seemed possible. Will, for the first time since they began eating, locked eyes with his father and didn't shrink from the continuous eye contact. Surprised by the answer, it was Douglas that looked away almost immediately, appearing to feel almost guilty of something. The man stared down at his nearly-cleared plate, eyes wide open as his wife did the same. However, she recovered much sooner than her husband.

"But it's dangerous out there, Will!" she cried, staring dead-on with her son. "You know that better than anyone! It wasn't—"

"It was. But I'm ready."

Will spoke quietly, though there was a force behind his words that caused his mother to stop speaking instantly. The same look of guilt that her husband still carried returned, and it struck her instantly. Leanne dropped her gaze as a lone tear began to slide down her cheek.

She wasn't wrong, though, and Will knew it. In the past five years or so, attacks by Pokemon had become almost common. Along with being every bit as intelligent as humans, Pokemon also had the same emotions, so if one was scared, angry, or confused, Pokemon would attack. Another common cause behind attacks was trainers not knowing how to avoid a Pokemon territory, and some creatures were more territorial than others. To help lessen these attacks, Sinnoh's Champion, Cynthia, raised the age for a Trainer's License from twelve to sixteen and had students take classes before they could apply for their license.

Since the shift, attacks were lower, but still prevalent. Fewer trainers were making the common mistakes of angering or scaring a Pokemon or entering the home of a territorial Pokemon. However, there were still some attacks. Experts—Pokemon researchers, Gym Leaders, and other such authorities—believed the answer was simple: some Pokemon were evil and just wanted to attack others.

Like humans.

Pyro watched the scene in front of him play out in silence. Like Leanne and Douglas, a look of pure guilt had taken over, and he couldn't look up at Will. Instead, he just looked straight forwards and watched the two people he considered his parents in a moment of shame. Will, meanwhile, stood up from the table, his plate of food still mostly full.

Without looking at anyone in particular, apparently unable to look at them either, he asked, "I need to finish packing. Can I be excused?"

He phrased it as a question, but Will was already leaving before anyone responded, leaving the three of them in silence as he left the kitchen and headed towards his bedroom. His parents watched him leave, their looks of guilt replaced by regret. However, they simply stared at his retreating figure as Pyro hurriedly left his chair and followed the teen.

The Pokemon turned back towards Leanne and Douglas to give them a reassuring look and found them staring at each other, not even noticing Pyro. Understanding why, he decided to just keep moving on towards his partner, hoping to make him feel better.

As the duo left, though, Douglas finally spoke again, saying, "He'll get past it, Leanne." The man spoke with such confidence, despite the scene that had just played out in the kitchen. "Our little boy will come back to us." He had went and hugged his wife, whom did nothing but cry, no longer keeping the tears back.

Pyro could barely hear them, though, and hoped that Will didn't whatsoever. He didn't turn around or say anything, so the Pokemon thought he had gotten lucky. The teen just continued walking upstairs to his bedroom.

However, he was clenching his fists tighter than ever as a droplet slowly dripped down his face and fell to the carpeted stairway.

* * *

When they got upstairs to Will's bedroom, Pyro shut the door behind them, knowing how much Will valued his privacy. As they entered, the chick noticed a large, black sling backpack with a red outline sitting against the bed. The zipper was not fully closed, so he could see the content: a few days' clothes, rope, extra shoes, and two water bottles in the pouches on either side. Seeing the pack, Pyro tilted his head to the right in confusion.

"Did you forget that you packed this morning before we went to Lake Acuity?" he asked the teen, who continued walking towards his bed. As he laid down—still silent—Pyro continued, saying, "You told Mom and Dad that you still had to pack."

Will, lying on his bed, turned towards the Pokemon and staring at him dead-on, replied, "I know." And with that, he turned back onto his back and closed his eyes.

Sighing, Pyro walked over towards his own bed—a miniature mattress made just for smaller Pokemon like him—next to Will's, deciding to lay down as well. He stared upwards towards two posters on the ceiling that Will kept—the only decorations that he had in his room—of two Pokemon trainers. One had black hair that he kept under a red hat and the other had dark blond hair. Both trainers had the same Pokemon, an orange, dragon-like creature that Pyro knew to be a Charizard.

Will wasn't a sentimental person. There was a meaning for everything that he owned, be it for physical or mental reasons. For the soon-to-be-rookie trainer, staring at the posters of two of the most powerful trainers in the world was a motivator for the brunet. Will would look at them each night as he fell asleep and first thing in the morning; they were his reminders of what strength looked like.

Seeing them, Pyro smiled a bit. "Soon we're gonna make sure you're a Champion, too, Will! Just like them! Are you ready for that or what!?"

The attempt at cheering up his trainer seemed to work, or at least that's what Pyro thought. Rather than lying still without comment like he usually would, Will rolled back onto his side again and faced Pyro beneath him. However, he wasn't smiling whatsoever, despite his partner's hopes. Thinking he failed and was about to get a short answer, Pyro sighed.

Opening his mouth, Will took in a breath to speak. However, in an unexpected twist, the teen snorted once and began to laugh: a sound that Pyro did not hear often. The laughing was short, though, with Will stopping after only a few mere seconds.

"I don't want to be Champion, Pyro," he said, his face stolid once more.

That bombshell hit the Pokemon hard; did Will not want to go on a journey anymore? Pyro must have looked incredibly surprised, because Will went on further, answering the unsaid question.

"I still plan to leave tomorrow." He paused. "But I have no desire to be Champion. I've been thinking about it a lot recently."

The chick couldn't think of anything to say, so he waited, hoping that Will would explain himself. He did nothing but stare at his trainer, silently hoping that he would open up just a little bit more yet.

"I will become strong. That's all I need. I'll defeat all evil. Nothing else matters, not a flashy title or anything else," he ended, sounding snarky as he finished speaking.

After explaining all that he had to say, Will turned back onto his back and closed his eyes, appearing at peace. Pyro watched the scene in front of him play with wide eyes, not completely certain that he understood everything that had happened. He knew Will better than anyone, but he had no one idea that his partner felt this way.

"Are you alright?" Pyro asked, his voice slightly shaky.

Will, who had previously appeared relaxed and at peace, clenched his fists, hiked his shoulders, and sat up quickly on his bed within a second of hearing the question. He looked down towards his starter Pokemon and frowned.

"You know that I hate that question, Pyro."

His frown lessened as he realized whom he was talking to, but the effect was all the same. Pyro sighed in response and looked up to his trainer dead-on, his gaze more piercing than Will had seen it in a long time.

"You'd tell me if there was something worrying you, though, right – More than normal?"

Will sat on his bed staring at the Pokemon for several moments before ever replying, and even then, didn't verbalize the answer. Instead, he merely nodded his head slowly and laid back down, the peace from before returning but not in full. Pyro, realizing that he would get nothing more, sighed once again and stood up. He walked over to the light switch, turned off the lights, and went back to his mattress.

"Goodnight, Will," he called up to his partner as he closed his eyes, preparing for the early morning.

"…Night," the teen replied moments later, his eyes now open and staring at the posters above him.

As he became more tired, Will felt his eyes begin to close naturally, though his gaze never left the posters. The Champions above him stared down upon him, seemingly inviting him to join them. With that thought, the brunet finally drifted into a dreamless sleep, ready for the next day and everything that would come with it.

He would finally be a Pokemon trainer.

* * *

 **Hey everyone, thanks for reading. This is going to be an interesting story, if I do say so myself. Pokemon are, in my mind, every bit as intelligent as humans, so that will be reflected here. Pokemon aren't mindless slaves that fight only for the trainer's goals (Usually), and that'll be shown with Will's team. Each Pokemon is their own unique character, and I'm excited to share that with all of you.**

 **There will be several arcs for this story, with the first being the Strength Arc, as you can see below. Each arc will have an overall theme that ties in to a part of Will's growth. Thanks again for reading!**

 **1\. What are your first impressions of this story?**

 **2\. Predictions for the chapters in this part of the arc?**

 **3\. Team Predictions for Will?**

 **4\. Any major hopes for the story?**

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** _Returning Home_

With his Trainer's License finally arriving, Will is able to start his Pokemon journey in earnest. With his first Pokemon Gym Challenge in Snowpoint City, however, he decides to train before staying in the Pokemon Center for the first time—a way for him to signify his new independence. What surprises wait him on his first day!?

* * *

 **Strength Arc:**

 **Snowpoint City:**

 **Chapter 3:** _Polar Prankster!_

 **Chapter 4:** _The Rookie Among Rookies_

 **Chapter 5:** _Left Cold!_

 **Chapter 6:** _Warming a Cold Shoulder_

 **Chapter 7:** _A New Dawn!_

 **Chapter 8:** _Avoiding the Avalanche!_


	2. Returning Home

**Last chapter opened up with Will and Pyro waiting for a snowstorm to die down before heading home, where we learned that Will has a somewhat pessimistic view on things and that Pyro seems to be the opposite. We then jumped to his last dinner with his family before his journey with Pyro begins. After a tense dinner with his parents, Will and Pyro head to bed before the big day, where we learn that maybe Pyro doesn't know Will as well as he thought.**

 **I'm a firm believer that music helps to set scenes when reading and writing, so I'll occasionally have songs that I recommend listening to while reading. For this chapter, whenever Will and Pyro say goodbye to their parents, I think that "In the Hands of Fate" from Explorers of Time and Darkness is a good fit. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Dragon's Blaze:** I'm not sure what you meant by weird, but I hope that this chapter clears up whatever confusion there was. I'm also not sure what you mean by "I don't think anyone does." If there was any confusion in my AN, I apologize. I just mean that Pokemon will be major characters, just like the humans. I personally don't think that happens often, especially on the level that I have planned. Thanks for the review!

 **DeltaRL:** It's good to hear from you! Been a while. I'm glad that you're liking the twist and are excited for what's in store. I do have a lot of plans for the Pokemon to have their own time in the limelight, and I think that everyone will enjoy them :) As to SYOC, though, probably not. If I need an OC, I always just ask. But I'll keep it in mind. Thanks for the review!

 **St Elmo's Fire:** We've already spoken quite a bit, so all I have to say is thank you for the grammar and storyline help and being available via PM for questions :) Thanks for the review!

 **Istwill56:** I appreciate the feedback that you gave, and I'll try to keep some of it in mind. Thanks for the review!

 **TheGreat0ne:** Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad to see that you're really enjoying what I've written :) As to what happened to Lily, I've taken her out of the story unfortunately. In my opinion, she was going to take more away from the story than she could've added. I have another character that reminds me of her in certain ways, so I hope that she'll help to fill that void for you! You've some interesting guesses for teams, and some of your overall ideas were correct, even if not the exact Pokemon. Lastly, I hope to keep up the quality that you're enjoying! Thanks for the review!

 **BouncingFish:** Thanks for the comment about being repetitive. I know that we've talked about this before, but it's still an issue for me in literally anything I write. My English professor told me the same thing this past semester lol. I'm going to keep working on that, though. As for why, how, and where Will got Pyro, I think your questions will be answered in the next few chapters. Thanks for the kind words! I appreciate the feedback more than you know! It's the best way for me to improve! Thanks for the review!

* * *

 **Will's Team:**

 **-Pyro (Torchic):** _Scratch, Growl, Ember_

* * *

After grabbing his sling backpack from beside his bed, Will brought the strap over his head and put on the pack. After taking a shower and getting ready, Will was finally preparing to leave. The only thing he was waiting on was for the mail to be delivered so that he could grab his trainer's license and say goodbye.

Will looked around his bedroom with a stolid expression. To almost anyone else, the room would have looked barren. There was only his bed, Pyro's bed, a dresser, a desk and chair, and the posters on the ceiling. To Will, however, this was all that was needed. He didn't like to have anything more than he needed in life, and his material possessions reflected that belief.

"Will!" His mother's voice came from downstairs, Will knew. "The mail just arrived, and you have your package!"

With his backpack on and ready to go, the soon-to-be-trainer pivoted, turning back towards his bedroom door. Then, without a single glance backwards or ounce of hesitation, Will left his bedroom and headed into the hallway. Unlike his room, the rest of the house was decorated brightly. As he walked down the hallway towards the stairs to the ground floor, he passed by a multitude of pictures of he and his family—including Pyro—all smiling and huddled close together. However, all of the pictures showed a much younger Knight family, with Will being younger than ten. Not a single picture had all members of their family together that was more recent than those.

Will walked down the stairs into the carpeted living room where he knew his parents and Pyro were watching the news on T.V. As he went down, Will could begin to see his family, with his father sitting in a black recliner, Pyro sitting on the tan carpet, his gaze set on the T.V. directly in front of him, and his mother laying on the black couch looking through letters. When they heard him come down the steps, Douglas and Pyro turned and smiled before turning back to the news, and Leanne stood up and walked over towards him, her eyes sparkling as she smiled widely at her son.

In her hands was a brown package that was about the size of two tissue boxes with Will listed as the addressee from the Pokemon League. He already knew what was inside; all packages for new trainers were the same. The lack of surprise did nothing to deter Will, though. He grabbed it, set it on the table, and ripped off the tape that was sealing the box, revealing its contents. Inside was a set of ten Poke Balls, five Potions, and last but not least, his trainer's license.

The Poke Balls and Potions didn't attract his attention whatsoever. They sat at the bottom of the box as Will grabbed the small piece of plastic out from beside them. His trainer's license wasn't elaborate. It had his name, address, his trainer identification number, the date of the beginning of his adventure—that day, and a picture of himself that he sent in a few weeks prior. While it may not have been overly fancy, it was everything that Will had been waiting for years to come, and it was finally in his hands.

Will felt as though he could have stared at the license for hours more, but just then, the news had a breaking news story. There was a loud siren-like sound effect coming from the T.V. that drew the attention of Will and his mother to it, just like Douglas and Pyro. His mother, being closer to the T.V. was in front of him, leaving no one behind Will. They all watched as the news anchor listened in to his ear piece and the news ticker at the bottom of the screen began to reveal what had just happened.

"In Eterna Forest, only a few hours ago, a young trainer by the name of Jackson Brown was mauled to death by an Ursaring after straying from the path and entering his habitat, his traveling companion, Alton Ashley explained." The anchor looked upset by the news that he was reading off, but he did not appear too shaken by it. This wasn't the first time he informed the community about a death via attack, Will knew. "Pokemon Rangers are investigating to make sure that the path does not interfere with the Ursaring's habitat, and the Ursaring in question has been put down."

Like many human murderers, Pokemon that take lives are put down. It's a highly divisive issue, however, with many protestors arguing against the practice as Pokemon are not yet given the chance to argue their innocence in court. The debate had been coming up more and more frequently with the rising number of deaths of trainers. However, while captured Pokemon are often seen as equals, more people think wild Pokemon are not.

"There is a group protesting against the Ursaring's punishment at the Pokemon League outside of the Champion's office." The anchor continued, speaking about the issue impartially. "They believe that he, the Ursaring, should have been given a chance to prove his innocence, rather than killed by the Pokemon Rangers at the word of another young trainer, but…"

The news anchor kept speaking about the incident, but Will didn't hear any of it. After he heard about the death of the trainer, he froze. While he had never heard of the trainer before that moment, hearing about his death visibly disturbed him. Will's eyes were wide, he had difficulty breathing, and his entire body was shaking. Will, sucked into his own world, no longer heard anything from inside his home, be it the T.V. or his family. All that he was heard was the same sound, over and over.

 _POP! POP! POP!_

Will remembered himself running away and hearing that sound cut through the air all of those years later, and he found himself flinching at the thought of it, feeling as though he had no control of his body. He continued to shake, but neither of his parents noticed as they were complaining about how Pokemon are never given a fair chance to explain themselves. Pyro, however, got up from his spot right in front of the T.V. and turned around just in time to spot his partner in all of his discomfort.

 _I can't keep reacting like this_ , Will thought miserably, infuriated at his lack of control over his emotions. _Accidents happen. There was nothing I could do to help. It's not Mauville…There was nothing I could do to help this guy…I wasn't even there._

Will, finally calming down, ceased his shaking. He felt in control of his emotions again just in time to spot Pyro staring at him with wide was watching his partner with a look of what he perceived to be pity, knowing just how much Will hated his attacks. However, the reaction had the opposite effect of what Pyro intended.

 _I don't need pity,_ Will thought, growing angry again. _Having others worry about me accomplishes nothing._ He looked down towards his hands as he balled them into fists, clenching tightly. _If I can't do this—if I can't grow strong—then I'll just continue to be weak and need protection from everyone else._

Pyro spotted Will stiffen and instantly knew that he didn't get his intentions across to his partner correctly, so he began to walk over towards Will. Leanne and Douglas, though, caught the movement coming towards them and stopped staring at the T.V. All the while, the news anchor continued speaking about the protests at the Pokemon League and the Ursaring attack. Will's parents' eyes followed their second son as he walked towards Will, wondering what was going on. Meanwhile, time seemed to slow down for Will as he watched Pyro come towards him.

 _No,_ Will thought definitively. _I won't allow anyone to feel like they have to worry about me anymore._ His fists were clenched so hard at that point that they were turning white from the restricted blood flow. _If I'm never able to be strong on my own, I'll never be able to stop myself from being hurt, let alone others. No. It's time to stop letting others worry about me._

Just before his parents' gaze reached him, Will suddenly stopped clenching his fists. In a single moment, he allowed his arms to lay freely by his sides, relaxed his shoulders, and most surprisingly, smiled slightly with the right side of his mouth. He bent down and picked up his license that had fallen as he heard the news. Pyro stopped suddenly, still a few steps away from Will, and blinked several times in disbelief. He—and only he—had seen the complete change in Will in that moment and could not figure out where it came from.

Will's parents, however, saw only the final part. The sight of Will smiling—even if only slightly—brought tears to his mother's eyes. She and her husband noticed their son holding his license and smiling: a sight that they waited years to see. Now that it was finally in front of them, though, they could hardly believe what they were seeing. Before either of his parents could say anything, however, Will broke the silence. The small smile left his face as he spoke, his gaze set right on his parents.

"Pyro and I need to go train; I hope to beat the Gym Leader here within a few days." Before he finished, Will broke the eye contact. Looking towards the floor, he continued. "So we need to get going. I'll make sure to call you both occasionally to let you know how we're—"

Before Will could ever complete his thought, his mother ran up to him and wrapped him in a tight embrace. The few tears she had shed earlier upon seeing Will smile were nothing in comparison to the wet trails sliding down her cheeks at that moment. Leanne said nothing as she hugged her son, just silently sobbing into his shoulder. At the same time, Douglas walked towards his wife and son and joined the embrace, hugging them both. Unlike Leanne, though, there were no tears streaming down his face, just a sad smile.

Pyro stood a few feet away watching the scene. It had been a long time since Will let either of his parents hug him, let alone both at once. It was certainly a sight to see for him. He opened his beak to say something, but after a moment's thought, said nothing. His eyes shining, Pyro decided to give them a little longer before they left.

Despite his parents' and Pyro's obvious pleasure at the embrace, however, Will's mind was racing in the opposite direction. He was deep in thought, barely even recognizing the group hug he was at the center of.

 _This is the first step,_ he thought. _If they don't feel like they need to worry about me, I can become strong. No. I will become strong. I won't ever let anyone else get hurt._

Just then, Will's parents released their hold on their son, and after another moment of smiling at Will, they each turned towards Pyro and bent down on one knee. They then grabbed their adopted son in another embrace, with Leanne full-on crying by that point.

"I know I've told the both of you this probably a million times," she said, exaggerating between sobs. "But please stay safe. I don't know what I would do if either of you were seriously hurt."

Douglas said nothing further, but the grown man nodded his head, a small tear finally falling from his right eye as well. Pyro, from within his parents' embrace, nodded his head with a sparkle in his gaze.

"Nothing will happen to us," he promised. "We'll stay safe."

Seemingly pleased with the response, both Leanne and Douglas released Pyro and stood back up. They turned back to face Will as Pyro walked over to stand by his side. Meanwhile, Will turned around back towards the package he had received, slipped his trainer's license into his wallet in his back pocket, and grabbed five Poke Balls from his bag. He placed the first half of his new Poke Balls on his belt then grabbed the remaining five capsules and five Potions into his backpack.

He looked down towards Pyro and simply nodded his head. Will knew it was time to leave, and his partner agreed. With the unspoken communication, they began to move towards the front door behind their parents.

"We've gotta get going. We'll talk to you soon, mom, dad," Will said quietly as he walked through them, not ever looking at either directly.

Pyro nodded his head in agreement but said nothing. Instead, he just smiled at his parents as he passed them, reassuring them once again. Douglas smiled back, but Leanne wasn't quite ready to let her sons leave. As Will stepped out of the threshold of their home with his partner, his mother leapt from her spot and dashed to her son. Will, taken aback at the sudden stomp on the ground from his mother, stopped in his place on the outside of their home right next to Pyro.

He turned around to face his mother, who stood on the inside of the house in the doorway. Her eyes were wide and staring directly into Will's own eyes. Rivers of tears were flowing down her face as she reached out across the entryway towards her son.

"Will…" She began to speak with a shaky voice, never once breaking eye contact even as she continued to cry. Will, for his part, stood silently outside his home in the cold as his mother stayed inside the warm house, making no movement back towards her. Continuing between sobs, she said, "I'm s-so s-sorry that you ever got hurt…I just d-don't want it to ever h-happen again!"

Leanne extended her arms out towards Will as her husband came up behind her and placed his hand on her right shoulder. He simply stared at his son with a stolid face as she brought her hand towards her son. Leanne was hesitant and shook as she moved slowly across the house's threshold towards her son. Meanwhile, Will stood stiffly with clenched fists as he watched his mother reach towards him. Time once again slowed down for him as he became lost in his own thoughts.

 _I can't let them worry. No good will come from it._ As Will thought, the tension in his body felt as though it was flowing down through him into the ground from his feet. _If they are constantly worrying about me, I can't ever get stronger. And if I can't get stronger…_ Will's fists released, and his palms—finally relaxed—laid outstretched at his sides as his mother's reach had made it to him. _I won't be able to stop others from being hurt like—_

"My beautiful boy…" Leanne trailed off as she combed her hand through her son's hair, interrupting his thoughts. Despite being about half a foot shorter than her son, she was able to reach the top of his head and play with his long hair like she did when Will was younger. "Please, just come back home to us, alright? We love you unconditionally, but we just want you to finally be happy again."

Douglas nodded his head in agreement with his wife but said nothing. Leanne had said what they were both thinking. Will, though, said nothing in response for nearly ten seconds. Instead, he just stood still and stared back at his parents with a steady gaze and furrowed brow. Throughout the entire scene, Pyro watched from the side, agreeing with his parents but saying nothing. He just hoped that his partner would actually say something before they left to put their parents' minds at ease.

"…We'll stay safe," Will said finally, his tone even as he continued to stare directly at his parents. His body language read calm, as he was still visibly relaxed, but Pyro knew there was much more to the exchange going on in front of him than met the eye. "And we'll both come home."

With that said, Will simply turned around, not waiting for his parents to respond. His face was stone as he walked away, confusing Pyro. Pyro was confused even more by Will's desire to leave so suddenly when seeing their mother so visibly worried but went along with his partner. With a quick final smile to reassure the man and woman that cared for him for so long, he left with Will, leaving to go train for their upcoming journey.

It wasn't until their house was completely out of sight behind them on their way to Acuity Lakefront that Pyro noticed any reaction from Will. In one brief moment, from his spot just behind the new trainer, Pyro thought he spotted a single glistening tear fall from Will's cheek. It hurt him to see, but Pyro knew that nothing he could say would help at the moment. He knew that the only thing that he could do to help would be to train, just like Will wanted.

So, with that, they walked in silence towards their destination with nothing but the supplies they carried in Will's backpack, their journey beginning in earnest.

* * *

 **So, this is another shorter chapter, but we're still in the introductory phase of the story. I guarantee longer chapters will come (And relatively soon), but this chapter got across what I wanted. Any longer would have been unnecessary and repetitive in my opinion: a problem I've been trying to fix in my writing. I also want to apologize for how incredibly long this chapter took to finish. I hope to write more quickly in the future now that my schedule is less busy. :) Thanks for reading!**

 **1\. Does my writing feel repetitive? I've been trying to solve that problem for a while, so I'd love some feedback on it.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** _Polar Prankster!_

When a surprise hailstorm strikes during a training session, Will and Pyro decide to take a break and run for some cover. However, when the hailstorm mysteriously follows them, they know something is up. Who's behind this bizarre weather!?

* * *

 **Strength Arc:**

 **Snowpoint City:**

 **Chapter 4:** _The Rookie Among Rookies_

 **Chapter 5:** _Left Cold!_

 **Chapter 6:** _Warming a Cold Shoulder_

 **Chapter 7:** _A New Dawn!_

 **Chapter 8:** _Avoiding the Avalanche!_


	3. Polar Prankster

**So last chapter had Will and Pyro finally heading out on their adventure in earnest. Will had a panic attack for some reason when they heard about a trainer dying on the news. Before anyone could notice it, though, Will decided that he was finished with letting people worry about him, and just before finally leaving, his mother asked him to come home to them? Seems just like her asking him to be safe, but we'll see the full meaning behind it start to form this chapter. Thanks for reading and enjoy!**

* * *

 **TheGreat0ne:** You're definitely right when you say Will is getting a lot of development in comparison to his past incarnations. However, considering how flat of a character he was back then, a stick could probably compete. This time, Will is going to have a lot of development, and I'm excited for it. You were right that someone important will be met at Lake Acuity, but it's not a rival. Thanks for your kind words and thank you for the review!

 **El Torro:** I'm glad that everyone is liking Will's final incarnation. He's going to go through a lot of development, so I think you'll enjoy seeing how far he comes from the man he is now. I'm also glad that you enjoy the equality among people and Pokemon. It's an important part of the story that I hope to show well. And there will be some major plot points that have to do with that conflict over equality. I can't thank you (And BouncingFish) enough for all of the help when writing. Thanks for all of your help and for the review!

* * *

 **Will's Team:**

 **-Pyro (Torchic):** _Scratch, Growl, Ember_

* * *

Will sat on a fallen tree in the snow as he watched the scene in front of him with a frown. For the past hour, ever since they had arrived at Acuity Lakefront from the Knight home, Pyro had been training. He was practicing for the battle that they were hoping to soon have with the Gym Leader of Snowpoint City. Pyro was attempting to hone his accuracy with his Ember attack—something that the two had been working on for several months by that point.

Despite all of his practicing, Pyro still had trouble hitting multiple targets at the same time. To train, he had been firing off barrage after barrage of fireballs towards their "targets," which were piles of sticks they had gathered from the surrounding area. The mounds of kindling were set on top of a snow-covered frozen lake to ensure they could easily put out any fire by dropping them into the water. Another reason was that any stray fireball would only hit the ice. Fortunately, though, most of the fires had died instantly as the small piles burned up.

Before they began, there were twenty mounds of branches arranged into four rows of five. There was about five feet in between each row, and the first row stood ten feet in front of Pyro. So, for the past hour, he had been shooting fireballs towards the targets in rapid succession. It began well, with him completely burning up the three targets in the middle of the front row. However, after that—be it because of the further distance, the cold, or a mix of the two—Pyro didn't hit another target for several minutes. Now, an hour later, the entire back row still remained.

Will stared at the back line with a frown. A thin layer of snow sat on top of the pile, almost as though it was taunting Pyro.

"Again," Will said, stoic as ever without ever even turning towards his companion.

Pyro sighed. The practice had begun well, with Pyro hitting most of the targets. However, as time had gone one, he hit fewer and fewer. In the previous round, Pyro had only hit one pile of twigs despite firing off several rounds of fireballs.

"If you can't fight at the same level for a whole fight, the only thing that our opponents will have to do is tire you out and wait for you to fail," Will said as his partner stared down the remaining five targets, still never looking towards Pyro. "You have to be consistent."

Pyro nodded. He took in a deep breath as his face sagged slightly. Sweat was visibly dripping down his face, but he still didn't voice any complaint he might have had. Instead, he exhaled slowly, prepping himself. Then, within a second, Pyro stood straight up at the edge of the lake in the snow and inhaled even deeper than before, taking in as much air as his lungs could hold. Then, after opening his beak, he released his breath and shot out three fireballs in a straight line towards the left-most pile, and each one of them hit their mark. The twigs immediately erupted into flames, disintegrating into a small ash pile that was quickly blown away by the wind.

Pyro didn't end there, though. he shot out two more triple bursts of fireballs. The middle-left and middle piles were struck and burned as rapidly as the first. Only a bit of smoke and ash remained where the two piles once stood. There was no time for Pyro to feel proud of his accomplishments, though. If Will wanted him to work on his ability to push past his limits, then that was what he was going to do.

As sweat continued to flow down the sides of his face, though, Pyro felt not only the effects of his exhaustion. The frigid cold temperatures had begun to chip away at his energy as well. He felt as though the snow and ice around him sucked away all of his heat and left him with nothing. Pyro knew that he couldn't stop there, though; he couldn't just yield that easily. As he stared down the remaining two piles from thirty feet away, Pyro took in a deep breath. Fighting past the cold and his exhaustion, he fired off two more triple bursts of fireballs towards the middle-right and right targets.

The first barrage rocketed towards its mark with each and every one of the orbs smacking against the brush. Upon impact, the pile erupted into a quick inferno, but died shortly after. Pyro felt relieved as he watched the scene, glad to know that he was finally becoming more consistent, even when as drained as he was. As his gaze shifted slightly right to follow his final burst, his face dropped.

The final mound of branches remained untouched and still held a cloak of snow on top. Around it were three scorch marks where the snow was melted and the thick sheet of ice begun to melt. Pyro's heart sunk at the sight. He fell to his bottom unintentionally, as though his legs could no longer support his weight. His thin legs shook as he tried to stand back up, but to no avail.

As he looked back up, his eyes were drawn to the movement in front of him—Will was walking across the snow-covered lake from Pyro's left towards the final mound, his face unreadable from the side view Pyro had. He stopped just in front of the target that Pyro missed with his back away from the exhausted Pokemon. Pyro couldn't tell whatever his partner was doing from his spot, but he was too tired to get up and check. Despite being a fire type, the extreme cold of northern Sinnoh took its toll on Pyro after training for so long.

"You need to do better."

The sentence, though not loud, echoed across the lakefront. Pyro felt as though he was struck by the comment, but he couldn't disagree. He knew that he need to be more consistent, to be better able to fight for longer, but he still couldn't. Before Pyro could say anything, however, Will spoke again.

"If we don't get stronger, we can't stop others from being hurt. We have to do better."

Just as before, Will spoke no louder than a conversational level, but his words still carried to Pyro, even with Will's back to him. Then, with one swift movement, Will kicked at the brush and knocked all of the branches flying towards the snowy grass. Then, again before Pyro could find anything to say, Will walked off to his right, towards the edge of the lake and away from their makeshift training camp.

"I'll be back later; I'm going to take a walk. Take a break."

And with that, Pyro slumped down even further. He gave everything he had, but it wasn't enough. He needed to do better.

* * *

Sitting on a large rock in the snow, Will looked back towards the lake where Pyro had been training. He could still see the far side of the frozen water in front of him but could no longer see his partner. After leaving, he thought that walking would help to clear his head but soon learned that wouldn't be the case. Since leaving his parents' house with Pyro, Will had a feeling that he couldn't shake. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew what caused it.

" _Just come back home to us."_

 _Does she just mean that she wants us to stay safe?_ Will thought.

His mother's final words to him as he left had been at the forefront of him mind. There was the obvious meaning: she wanted him to stay safe. However, the thought that there might be more to it than the figurative first glance sent Will's mind racing hundreds of miles per hour.

 _Am I just over-analyzing? It seems weird coming from Mom, but if she just wanted us to stay safe, she would've just said it._

Seconds flew by and then minutes, but all the while, Will never stood up. He sat deep in thought without showing any signs of discomfort due to the cold despite still wearing nothing more than his usual attire of jeans and an unzipped jacket. He was so encompassed by his thoughts that he didn't even notice.

 _But what else could it mean? "Come back home to us" isn't exactly a complex phrase…_

By this point, Will was becoming frustrated. The thought of there being something more to his mother's goodbye than he could understand annoyed him.

 _If you wanted to say something else, why not just say it, Mom!?_

Unable to think of why, Will stood up and glared at the sky. He didn't want to feel upset with his mother; she always did everything in her power to care for him. He just didn't understand, and that feeling of ignorance was not something Will particularly enjoyed.

"Whatever," he muttered, kicking around at the snow by his feet. "She probably didn't mean anything more anyways. It's just me freaking out over nothing."

With that, Will began to walk further away from the lake, hoping to clear his mind, as was his original intention. The snow seemed to start picking up as he walked, but Will paid it no mind. His attention was still on his mother's words. Despite his own words, there was still something in the back of Will's thoughts telling him that there was more to this than meets the eye.

" _Just come back home to us."_

The snow continued to come down harder and harder as Will walked through the spruce trees. They blocked him from most of the snowfall and wind, so he could think in relative peace. There wasn't even any noise that Will could hear around him, almost as though nature was doing everything it could to help him relax. However, his mind could not stop echoing the same phrase on repeat.

" _Just come back home to us."_

"Damnit!" Will shouted suddenly.

His knees buckled immediately after, and Will's legs smacked against the snowy grass. The anger and frustration he felt over his confusion was prevalent in his actions. His fists were clenched so tightly that he was restricting blood flow to his fingers, causing them to turn white.

"Why does nothing make sense right now!?" he yelled at no one or thing in particular. Looking straight upwards, glaring at the sky, he continued, "Nothing in my life has made sense since that day! Now I can't even understand my own damn mother!? Why!?"

Will began to punch at the ground in frustration, smashing his fists against the wet grass through the snow as he stared daggers down at his victim. He did naught but get his hands wet and cold, but he visibly calmed down after ten seconds of it. His breathing—having been sporadic and heavy in the beginning—calmed to a point where he was breathing regularly once again.

"Why couldn't my life be normal?" Will said, his voice barely more than a whisper. "Why did that have to happen to me?"

Will looked upwards once more through the trees towards the snow as it fell down all around him. The white specks descended peacefully, but despite seeing snow almost daily, Will seemed slightly confused by it. In that moment, his eyes suddenly went wide, and his gaze ever-so-slowly once again fell towards the ground. At the same time, Will's hands rose upwards from their place in the snow until they stopped at chest height.

"No…" Will trailed off as he stared directly at his own two hands. "She couldn't have…" Sighing, Will knew he was right. "But she did…"

Before he could think any further, though, Pyro came running towards him through the trees. He looked to be out of breath as he stared over towards Will with a concerned look on his face. Sweat still dripped down his face so much that between it and the snowfall, Pyro's feathers were soaked. If it wasn't for the fire in his stomach, he would've froze.

"What's wrong?" he asked frantically. "I heard you shouting from at the lake and ran over here as fast as I could!" Already exhausted from training, Pyro looked as if he would fall over at any second after the sprint from their camp. "Were you attacked!? Is the Pokemon still nearby!?"

Meanwhile, he continued on forwards towards Will, wavering to either side dizzily as he stepped. Will watched the scene with his face in its usual stoic state, any traces of the confusion and frustration he felt only seconds ago completely vanished.

"I'm fine, Pyro," he said coolly. "There's nothing to worry about. Are you ready to train again?"

Pyro titled his head slightly to the right and looked at his partner with a curious expression. He knew something had happened that Will didn't care to explain, but he wasn't sure what that was. Will was visibly uninjured, so Pyro assumed that if Will hadn't yet told him what went down, he wasn't going to. With that actualization, Pyro just sighed and nodded his head.

"Uh…Sure, Will. I can train some more." As he spoke, sweat continued to fall from his face, but Pyro looked at Will dead-on, unyielding.

With that, he turned around and walked back towards the lake, struggling to stay standing. Will saw the struggle but said nothing as he followed behind him, heading towards their training site. The same phrase haunted him still, though, despite the distraction in the form of Pyro. However, unlike before, he was certain that he knew what it meant.

 _You expect me to change so easily?_ he thought. _Do you actually think that's still possible, Mom? I'm different now._ Will shook his head as he walked, his eyes wide and lip quivering. _I can't go back to who I was anymore…This is me now, for better or for worse, and if she thinks anything can change that…_

Will shook his head and composed himself mid-step. His eyes trained on Pyro as he walked.

"I hope so."

Will spoke so softly that even Pyro, only a few feet ahead, heard nothing. However, Will's face was stolid again, appearing as though nothing had happened in the last minute. He simply walked on, silently wishing his mother's goal of going back was as easy as she thought.

* * *

Watching Pyro continue to struggle with his training wasn't exactly what Will had planned for the first day of his journey. Even with the break from the first set of accuracy and endurance training that he had been through earlier, Pyro was still unable to fight for long. He could only shoot off two or three fireballs at once and after several repetitions of it, became too exhausted to continue.

"How are we ever going to be able to beat the Gym Leader, Pyro?" Will asked, the disappointment in his voice apparent. Pyro said nothing in response, though, taking the verbal beating. "Do you think the gym won't be cold as well? Or that she won't try to stall and tire you out?"

Pyro still stood in silence as Will continued to speak. He looked downwards so as to not see his partner's face as he scolded him. Pyro knew that he had to improve if they were to get stronger. He just didn't know how.

"Take two minutes. Then we're going again, and I expect you to remain accurate for the entire duration of the training."

When he finished speaking, Will walked away from Pyro to a nearby stone. Pyro's head steadily rose as his partner moved off. Sweat dripped towards the snow-covered ground from the action, and Pyro exhaled a deep breath. Then, breathing in, he closed his eyes and gathered his confidence.

"Will," Pyro called towards him just before he sat down. "I _am_ trying my best, I promise." Will slowly turned towards him as Pyro spoke, his face stone. "I promise that I'm not trying to work against our goal. I want us to become strong."

At this point, Pyro was feeling more confident. He knew Will better than anyone alive. The fact that he had not yet said anything was a good sign. With that in mind, Pyro began to walk over towards Will, who was now facing Pyro completely.

"I will never be able to forgive myself for what happened back then," Pyro continued, surprising even himself by holding his gaze with Will. "But know that I want us to become strong just as much as you do."

He was now only a few feet away from Will, so Pyro stopped in his place. His gaze steady, Pyro took in a deep breath.

"I want to help make sure that we stop others from being hurt like—" He paused, stopping himself from saying something. Taking it in stride, though, Pyro continued, saying, "Like you were. No one should have to go through that. And we'll make sure that no one does. But you have to trust me when I say that I want to help you every step of the way."

Having said his peace, Pyro finally broke his gaze. He looked downwards, silently waiting for Will's response. He might know him better than anyone else, but even Pyro didn't know exactly what Will would be thinking after that outburst. It wasn't often that Pyro spoke like that to Will, even though they were equals.

"I'm s—" Before he could even start his response, Will cut off suddenly, sounding confused.

Looking up, Pyro spotted him staring upwards to the sky, and it didn't take long for Pyro to realize what was wrong. The soft dusting of snow that had been coming all day had ceased. In its place was the beginning of a hailstorm.

"Hail?" Pyro asked, sounding uncertain. "Where did this come from? The weatherman didn't say anything about hail."

Will shook his head, saying, "The weather changes all of the time; let's just get to some cover."

Pyro nodded in response. Hail around Snowpoint came down hard and fast, so the residents knew that hiding out during a storm was the best idea. With that in mind, the two began to hurriedly walk back to the north, towards a nearby cavern.

"Hurry up, Pyro," Will warned as they left. "I want to get to cover before the hail gets much bigger."

He and Pyro picked up their pace, transitioning from a speed walk to a light jog. The light pattering of the ice pellets hardly fazed them, so they made good time towards the cave. However, a few minutes later when the entrance came into view a few hundred meters away, they heard something whooshing down towards them. Will and Pyro stopped suddenly to look up, and both of their jaws dropped.

A hailstone the size of a golf ball fell in front of them—much larger than the pellets they had been jogging through on their way. In that moment, they both looked towards each other before silently agreeing to run even faster.

* * *

"Ow…Ow…Ow…" Pyro muttered, squirming as Will patched him up.

In the final stretch towards the cave, Will and Pyro both got several bruises. The barrage of hail coming at them all but ensured they'd be hit by some. With the variety of different sized hailstones, some felt like little more than a poke, while others' collisions made Will and Pyro feel like they were punched by a Machoke.

"Just sit still and this will go better for the both of us," Will replied, looking tight-lipped at his fidgeting partner.

He was trying to apply some to Pyro's right side. One of the stones that hit him had a sharp edge and drew blood, and when Will tried to wrap it to stop the bleeding he pressed into one of Pyro's many new bruises.

"I know, I know…" Pyro muttered, standing as still as he could. "It just hurts."

Rolling his eyes, Will replied, "I got some bruises, too, you know. You don't hear me pouting about it."

At that, Pyro said nothing. He just kept still and waited for his partner to finish with the gauze. After a few more moments, Will finished up, so he turned to put the gauze back with the first aid kit in his backpack. As he put it in his bag, though, Will heard a strange sound coming from near the entrance.

"Runt. Sno. Runt."

 _What in hell?_ Will thought. _It sounds like a Snorunt, but…_ Will looked around, scanning through his surrounding as Pyro sat, oblivious to their onlooker. _Snorunt love the snow and hail and are almost always out and about during storms. What's one doing in here now?_

Unable to spot the Pokemon, Will decided to stand up and look around. Pyro, spotting the sudden movement, looked up to his partner and tilted his head.

"What's up? Everything alright?"

Not even looking back towards him, Will replied, "Everything's fine. Don't worry about it."

Pyro's titled head never moved, but his gaze followed along with every movement Will made. He watched as his partner moved towards the cave's entrance without a word. Just as he made it to the opening, though, he stopped and looked outside.

"Where are you," Will muttered so quietly that Pyro couldn't hear him. "I know you're here somewhere."

As he looked around, though, it wasn't the Snorunt that he found. Staring outside, Will came to a strange revelation.

"It's…still snowing."

He spoke louder than he had earlier, so Pyro could hear what was said. Confused by the odd proclamation, though, Pyro couldn't help but check it out. However, all that he could see was the hail right outside the cave entrance.

"What do you mean, Will?" he asked. Pyro stopped right next to Will's left and looked up towards him. "It's still hailing; just look right in front of us."

Shaking his head, Will replied, "It's snowing, Pyro. Look past the hail right in front of us and check the whole area."

Unsure what he meant, Pyro decided to humor him and look around the hail he saw in front of him. He saw the trees that they walked through and, far in the distance, he spotted the lake they were training at earlier. However, he could still see the hail right in front of them, not snow. He was about to mention that fact when, all of a sudden, he spotted it.

"How in the…" he muttered in awe.

Just outside the cave was a hailstorm, just like before. However, it wasn't a normal storm. The hail fell in a twenty-feet radius around the entrance, but past that, snow continued to fall as though it never stopped.

"How is that possible?" Pyro asked his head tilted as it always was when he gets confused. His gaze shifted upwards and to his right to focus on Will. "The hail looks like it…followed us."

Will, unlike his partner, didn't seem confused. Instead, he walked away from Pyro towards the cave's opening without a word or a backward glance. He stopped by the entrance where a pile of three rocks, each slightly larger than Pyro, stood. From where he was, Pyro couldn't see past it, but Will obviously could.

"Come out from there, Snorunt," he called, his voice harsh and fists clenched tightly.

Taken aback, Pyro watched as a small black and yellow Pokemon stepped out from behind the stones, a broad grin on its face. Its bright blue eyes were shining so brightly that they stood out even in the dimly-lit cave.

"Sno!" it cheered in between sounds that resembled laughing. "Runt!"

As Snorunt continued to laugh at them, Will walked over to it, his knuckles turning white. He said nothing as he moved towards the rocks, but his usually-stoic face was dark with a narrowed gaze.

"What the hell was that all about!?" he asked angrily. "You made us run all of the way here through hail!? And hail the size of golf balls at that!"

After every sentence, the Snorunt seemed to laugh even harder. By the time Will finished speaking, it seemed to be close to tears. The sight of it enjoying what it had done set Will off even further.

"You could have actually killed us!" he snapped, lunging at Snorunt and looking dead into its eyes. "Hail of that size can do serious damage! You're lucky we came out of it with only some scrapes and bruises!"

Hearing that, Snorunt looked down towards the ground without any trace of its previous giddiness and shook slightly, as though it was crying. The sight caused Will to release some of the tension in his fists.

"Sno. Runt. Sno," it muttered, never looking at Will or Pyro.

Unable to understand what it said, Will looked back to his partner and raised his right eyebrow in confusion. Seeing that, Pyro translated what Snorunt had said.

"I'm really, really sorry…" he began, trailing off as he looked at the Snorunt in the hopes that it would continue.

Snorunt's shaking not only continued, but after Pyro finished speaking, it became even more pronounced. A few seconds after he finished translating, Snorunt looked back up while still shaking. However, it wasn't shaking from crying, as Will had thought.

"Sno…Sno! Runt! Sno!"

It finished speaking with the same excitement as before, again looking as though it was laughing. Will hurriedly turned back to Pyro, wanting to know what the Snorunt said that made the sudden change in emotion. What he wasn't expecting to see, though, was Pyro staring with wide eyes.

"Well!?" he asked, glaring towards Pyro. "What'd it say!?"

Pyro flinched a bit at the sudden shout but said nothing about it. Instead, he refocused and translated what Snorunt had said, looking a little concerned as he did.

"I'm sorry…that you both fell for such a simple prank!"

Will went completely silent upon hearing that. His knuckles once again turned white, his brow furrowed, and he turned back towards the Snorunt dangerously slowly.

"Are…you… _fucking_ serious right now!?"

Will's voice was barely more than a whisper, but like they had earlier during that afternoon's training, his words seemed to echo all around them. If looks could kill, Snorunt would have been murdered a dozen times over.

"You could have killed us with your fucking prank and you're _laughing_!?" Will never moved nor raised his voice, but there was a venom in his voice that made Snorunt stop laughing. "You're strong enough to make hailstones that large that follow us for half a mile, and you waste that strength on what… _pranks_!? Pranks that could _kill_ someone!?"

Not ever giving Snorunt a chance to say anything in defense of its actions, Will turned back around to Pyro.

"Burn that thing with an Ember," he said, the same anger present across his face. "Let it know how it feels to be attacked by a complete stranger."

Pyro seemed shocked by not only the request, but by Will himself. He stared in silence at Will with wide eyes, shocked by how upset he was over something that ended alright. Will looked angrier than Pyro had ever seen him.

"No."

Pyro wasn't sure what was going through his partner's mind, but he did know that if he did attack Snorunt, Will was going to regret it later. With that thought in mind, Pyro stood firm, doing what he thought was best.

"I'm not going to attack Snorunt, Will," Pyro reiterated as he planted his feet hard against the cave's floor. "This isn't what we do; we help people, not hurt them. Snorunt did nothing wrong."

Still looking furious, Will turned his glare onto Pyro. "You're kidding me, right? That thing could have killed us both! You know what hail of that size could do if it hit us!"

Instead of also shouting, Pyro tilted his head and looked straight into Will's angry gaze. Holding it unyieldingly, he explained, "Our goal is to help innocent people and Pokemon. If we just decided to hurt Snorunt because of a prank—a prank that did nothing more than leave us with a few bumps and scrapes—then we'd be no better than the people we want to stop."

That left Will silent for a bit. His face slowly morphed back into its usual stoic state as Pyro watched him visibly calm down. The anger and rage that were present earlier appeared to be all but gone after only thirty seconds. Throughout that entire time, though, neither Pyro nor the Snorunt tried to speak or move.

"You're right." He spoke softly, with all traces of the earlier malice disappeared. However, Will didn't look like he planned on apologizing anytime soon. "We shouldn't stoop to Snorunt's level. We don't attack people for no reason." Then, without ever looking back at the wild Pokemon, he continued. "Let's get out of here. There's no point staying here any longer with this waste of potential."

He then walked towards the cave's entrance without another word or glance back. Will left Pyro behind without any further explanation, causing him to hurriedly glance between the retreating form of his partner and the silent Snorunt, who had stood frozen in place since Will's shouting.

Pyro glanced at it with a commiserative look, but Snorunt never even looked back up towards him. It stared down at the ground looking downcast, and as Pyro turned away, he thought he even noticed a teardrop fall from its face. However, he couldn't take the time to check for sure. Will was already outside of the cave, all remnants of the hail completely gone with only a light snowfall remaining.

With a quick glance back towards Snorunt as he left the cave, Pyro was surprised to see it gone. He never heard any movement, but less than a minute later, it was gone. Sighing, Pyro hurried along, trying to catch up to Will.

"For all of our sakes…" he began, whispering to himself as he jogged. "I hope we don't see it again…"

Within another minute, Pyro caught back up to Will, and the two walked back towards Snowpoint City in complete silence, never noticing a pair of bright blue eyes watching them.

* * *

 **Like Chapter Two, this took way too long for me to post. Was it shorter? Yeah, but not by much whatsoever. For that, I apologize. I hope to get faster and faster with every chapter. With that aside, thanks for reading! I hope to have Chapter Four posted soon! It's one of my favorites so far!**

 **1\. Thoughts on Will's and Pyro's relationship so far? It will change many times throughout the story, so I'd love to know your thoughts on the first phase of it.**

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** _The Rookie Among Rookies_

Whenever Will runs into a clumsy new trainer, the newbie wants some help training. Will is about to say no, but Pyro lets the new trainer know that they'd be happy to help, despite only just starting themselves. What exactly did Pyro sign Will up for!?

* * *

 **Strength Arc:**

 **Snowpoint City:**

 **Chapter 5:** _Left Cold!_

 **Chapter 6:** _Warming a Cold Shoulder_

 **Chapter 7:** _A New Dawn!_

 **Chapter 8:** _Avoiding the Avalanche!_


	4. The Rookie Among Rookies

**With their journey finally started, Will and Pyro went to train last chapter. However, due to both the cold and the length of time he was training, Pyro could not do as well as hoped. This caused Will and Pyro to have a bit of a one-sided argument. Pyro wanted Will to know that he's doing his best, but before Will could respond, a random hailstorm with golf ball-sized hailstones began. After getting to cover, though, they learned it was a prank! And the prankster was proud! Will gave the polar prankster a loud verbal thrashing, but Pyro wouldn't attack. He reminded Will of who they are and what they do, causing Will to just leave without another word. Pyro followed behind, leaving the Snorunt alone. With their first full day of adventuring complete, what's in store?**

* * *

 **TheGreat0ne:** Firstly, thanks for reviewing! I really appreciate it! Will is putting his goal before a lot of other things like you said, so I wonder how far that will go? (Duh, I know, but whatever lol) The same can be said for Will's relationship with his parents. It definitely is strained, and you'll learn why kind of soon. Sorry for the super long wait, but I hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

 **Will's Team:**

 **-Pyro (Torchic):** _Scratch, Growl, Ember_

* * *

The sun had barely risen when Will got out of bed. He was usually an early riser, so it wasn't that weird of a sight. However, rather than waking up Pyro like he normally would, he stood quietly above his sleeping partner, his brow furrowed. Will was already showered and dressed, ready to go downstairs to get some breakfast, but rather than wake up Pyro at this point like he usually would do, he stared.

 _So much has happened already,_ he thought, biting down on the right side of his inner cheek. _And it's only day two. What a way to start…_

Will sighed and looked towards the window on the wall right in front of him. As the window faced east, the sun came right in as it rose through the sky. For Will, someone who generally wakes up before sunrise each morning, this wasn't a big issue, but he was curious about whether or not it would wake up Pyro, who was laying down on the tiny mattress next to Will's own that the Pokemon Center supplies for smaller Pokemon like him.

 _At least my room at home doesn't face east… There's one upside to it at least._

The night before, rather than going back to their parents' house, Will and Pyro had gone to the Pokemon Center. Will had no desire to stay at home any longer than he had to, and as soon as he received his trainer's license in the mail yesterday, he knew that he would begin staying at the Pokemon Center, which was required to have a set amount of free rooms available for all certified trainers. Pyro knew that Will had planned to do this, so when they began talking to the center rather than home the previous night, he said nothing about the matter.

Will's mind quickly went back to the first day of his journey, the distraction the sun had caused gone. He flinched slightly as he remembered the panic attack he had endured after hearing about the news report of the Ursaring attacking the trainer.

 _I haven't had an attack in months, but then one happens on the first day!? What the hell!?_ The ferocity he felt quickly died down as he sighed once more. He looked through the window to the outside world, almost as if looking for something. _When will I finally get past this? I can't become strong if a simple news report is able to wreck me…_

Will slowly shifted his gaze to the small TV that the Pokemon Center provided to each room. Next to it laid the remote, and before he ever even realized it, Will had begun moving towards it. Then, unconsciously, he reached out for it and picked up the device. Holding the remote, Will shook slightly as he turned on the television to the Sinnoh news. While there was no news of another attack like the one the day before, the aftershocks of the Ursaring attack were spread across the screen for Will to see.

The on-scene reporter was standing outside the Champion's office, where two very different kinds of protestors picketed behind her. One side held signs advocating for the rights of Pokemon to be remembered and that the Ursaring was unjustly killed as he had not gotten a trial. The other side was counter protesting, arguing that Ursaring had killed a human and was put down for the good of society.

To not wake up Pyro, the TV was on mute, which meant that Will didn't have to hear the fighting taking place. However, he was still watching every second of it. Unlike the day before, though, Will seemed fine. His breathing was steady, and only the occasional shaking of his arms showed any effect whatsoever.

With a sigh of relief as though he had proven something to himself, Will went to turn off the TV. However, just as he went to press the power button, the picture of yesterday's victim appeared on the screen, a sixteen-year-old boy who, like Will, had only just begun his journey—a sight that Will hadn't forget from the previous morning. In that moment, his eyes went wide and he no longer could feel anything. His breathing went heavy, and he began to shake uncontrollably.

 _No. No! NO!_

Will suddenly dropped the remote to the ground as he brought both of his hands up to the top of his head. He ran his fingers through his hair and gripped it tightly, hoping to regain control of his body and breathing. In that same moment, though, the remote fell to the floor and made a loud smack as the batteries fell out and rolled around the room. Will paid it no mind, instead continuing to try and get back under control, but the smack had stirred Pyro in his sleep.

Through his deep breathing, Will didn't notice Pyro's eyes start to open shakily. The light shining in from the window disoriented him, so he wasn't able to see the panic attack that Will was having. Instead, he drifted back to sleep. Meanwhile, Will never noticed his partner's stirring. He was still struggling silently, internally screaming at himself.

 _Damnit! Get a grip, damnit!_ The shaking was slowly ceasing, but Will's heavy breathing stayed the same. _It's not the same thing! It was just an accident, and you had no control over it!_ he thought to himself angrily.

He simply repeated that over and over, reminding himself that there was nothing he could do to save the other trainer that he had never met. For five more minutes, he stood nearly completely still—other than his heavy breathing.

Eventually, when Will was fully convinced that he had everything back under control, when his breathing was back to normal and he no longer shook, he carefully bent down to pick up the remote once more. He hit the power button and turned the TV off, ignoring the news which continued coverage of the protest outside the Champion's office. Then, just as deliberately as he had picked it up, Will put the remote down on the table and walked far from it towards his bed.

After sitting back down on the mattress, Will let out a deep breath that he didn't even realize that he had been holding in. As he exhaled, his thoughts roamed as began to lay back down onto the bed in attempt to relax.

 _Day two, and I've already had as many attacks… Great. Just great,_ he thought, his face grim. _How in hell am I supposed to become the strongest if I can't even watch the damn news!?_ Then, turning his head to look down towards the sleeping figure of Pyro, he thought, _How are_ we _supposed to become the strongest if I can't get over this?_

Before he could think any further on the matter, a loud fog horn cut through the silence. Will was so shocked by the sound that he shot straight up and was then sitting up on the bed. At the same time, the unexpected sound had instantly woke up Pyro. He leaped up at the sound and scanned all around the room, as if believing they were under attack.

After a few short seconds of the both of them looking around for what caused the sound, Pyro looked up to the bed towards Will.

"Any idea what that was?" he asked, his head tilted to the right. "It interrupted such a great dream; I was eating some of Mom's homemade pie…"

Will simply shrugged in response, and then without a word, he got up from the bed and went to the window. He covered his eyes from the sun's glare and looked out towards the docks. Just as he had thought, there was a ship atop the icy waters. It had a black hull and red bridge with a foreign flag painted on the side, and like any ship that came to Snowpoint, it was an icebreaker, a special kind of ship that had a reinforced double hull to allow it to plow through the often-frozen waters of Northern Sinnoh.

"I thought that was a fog horn we'd heard…" he muttered. Then, raising his right eyebrow, he continued, "But why is there a ship here? It's definitely not a Sinnohan ship. I've never seen one like it before…"

Pyro, energized by the mystery that he was hearing, ran up to the window as well, eager to see whatever it was that was confusing Will.

"Ooh, ooh!" he cheered as he maneuvered around the bed. "I wanna see it! It's been so long since a ship visited!"

Without saying anything, Will bent down and picked up Pyro, setting him on the windowsill. Knowing that he couldn't do it himself with his small wings, Will blocked the sun's glare for Pyro without ever being asked, surprising the Pokemon slightly.

"Thanks!" he said in response with a smile. "Wow! It really is bright out there today!"

Now able to see out the window, Pyro took a look at the ship for himself. Like Will, he didn't know what the ship was doing there, but unlike his partner, Pyro didn't seem to be too curious of why it was there. The only emotion he felt was excitement.

"Yes! Awesome! There's gotta be at least one other trainer on that boat, right!?" he asked rhetorically, turning back towards Will and grinning. "That would mean that there's someone that we can train against for our first Gym Battle!"

Will's stolid expression never wavered as Pyro stared at him with his usual wide smile. However, despite saying nothing, the gears in Will's head were turning.

 _Pyro's right…_ he thought. _If there's somebody here—even if they're more experienced than me—we could battle them. No matter how much we practice accuracy and endurance, we don't stand a chance against the Gym Leader—let alone anyone else—if we don't actually practice battling._

"Then let's go check for trainers," Will said simply after a moment, a small smile making its way to his face.

Pyro, despite spotting the smile forming, said nothing, but his excitement grew even more. If Will was looking forward to this, then it was definitely going to be fun for himself, Pyro knew. With that thought in mind, he hopped off the windowsill and jogged over towards the door.

Looking back as he got to the door, Pyro called, "You coming, Will!? We've gotta get over towards the dock quickly—"

He stopped mid-sentence when he noticed that Will hadn't yet moved from his spot. Will was instead continuing to stare down towards the dock as the ship began to move away from the city. With a final fog horn, the ship retreated back to the icy waters, and his gaze never once left it until it was out of sight. Only then did Will turn around to face Pyro.

"You're right," he said, as though responding to the question Pyro has asked a couple minutes previously. "We should get going."

Then, without another word, he walked over towards the door. Pyro said nothing as Will passed him, instead just staring. The moment by the window confused him, but he knew better than to ask about it. He followed along behind Will as the two left the room to head over to the docks.

As they walked, only one thing was on Will's mind, and it was almost as if it was a song playing on repeat.

 _This is our first test. We have to succeed._

* * *

"They've gotta be around here somewhere, right?"

Pyro was scanning through the barren streets of Snowpoint City for whomever had been on the ship to no avail. He and Will had seen no sign of anyone around the docks, so they decided to move back towards the Pokemon Center, thinking that they might have passed the visitor at some point. However, they still hadn't seen anyone, even on their way back to the Pokemon Center.

"You would think so," Will muttered, glancing from side to side as his brow furrowed. "But there's not a single sign of anyone having been here."

Walking down the street, Will and Pyro were careful to keep their balance as they looked around, because like always in Snowpoint, the roads were icy. Even in times when it hadn't snowed in days and the ground was clear, the pathways were still slick. Sighing, Will slowly turned around to face Pyro, glaring off into the distance all the while.

"Whatever," he muttered as he glared. Then, facing Pyro, he said, "Let's just go train."

Pyro was visibly slumped at not being able to find another trainer but said nothing as he nodded his head. He watched Will walk past the street corner, but just as he disappeared out of his sight, Pyro heard a loud thump.

"What the hell!?"

The annoyed voice of his partner was unmistakable to Pyro. He ran across the corner to see Will sitting down on the ground rubbing his right arm. Across from him was a teen seemingly the same age as Will with short blond hair. Despite the year-long cold temperatures of Snowpoint, this teen was wearing only a pair of khaki shorts, a gray T-shirt, and a blue zip-up jacket. Suffice it to say, he looked incredibly out of his element.

"I'm s-s-so s-sorry!" he nearly yelled while shivering.

Unlike Will, he was still standing and didn't seem sore, leading Pyro to believe his partner took the majority of the force from the collision. Despite the circumstances, Pyro had to stop himself from laughing. Even as he stood there, the other teen continuously apologized, and all the while, Will never said a word. He just sat there wide-eyed, seemingly confused by the constant babbling.

"I didn't mean to b-bump into y-you, I'm s-s-sorry!" he stammered. "I'm j-just not used to all of this ice, and I k-keep s-s-slipping!"

By that point, Will had already risen to his feet and was shaking off some of the snow.

"I'm s-s-sorry! I didn't even try to help y-you up!"

Will ignored the apology.

If the teen was bothered by Will's ignoring his help, it didn't show. He just continued apologizing all the same amidst his shivering.

"I r-really didn't mean t-to do it," he said. "It was an acci—"

"Don't worry about it." Will spoke quietly, but there was an edge to his voice. "We're just going to be on our way…"

The blond boy's eyes went wide as he heard Will trail off, as though he had just made a sudden realization. All the while, Pyro watched from behind Will, still struggling to keep from laughing.

"I almost forgot! I n-never introduced m-myself!" Sticking out his shaking hand towards Will, he continued, saying, "I'm J-James Anderson, b-but everybody just calls me J-Jimmy."

Will slowly extended his hand out to shake Jimmy's, but before he even opened his mouth to introduce himself, the rambling continued.

"I'm a n-new trainer and decided to start off here in S-Snowpoint!" He was shaking just as much as before, but the nervousness in Jimmy's voice was lessening with every sentence as a smile began to grow. "My family just moved to Sinnoh fr-from Kalos. They wanted me to start off in Canalave C-City where they moved to, but I w-wanted to start off s-somewhere with a reputation for strong trainers!"

Jimmy still hadn't let go of Will's hand. He was staring at him with his usual stoic look, but the smiling Jimmy either didn't notice, or he didn't care, because he rambled along.

"I only have one P-Pokemon at the moment, and he and I j-just started traveling together a f-few days ago. Professor Sy-Sy—"

Jimmy sneezed before he could get the name out, and as he did, Will ripped his hand out of Jimmy's. Jimmy blushed as he realized how long he had been gripping Will's hand.

"Excuse m-me! S-Sorry about that; I think I'm getting a c-cold."

"Don't worry about it," Will said once again. He turned around and went to walk away, saying, "But we really have to be going—"

"Wait!"

Before Will could take a step away, Jimmy had reached out again and grabbed him by the Will's shoulder. The action immediately made him tense up, but he didn't move away. Instead, he slowly turned back to face Jimmy again, relaxing slightly when he saw the look on his face. The small smile that had grown as he rambled was gone, leaving a desperate look in his eyes and a depressing frown.

"I…don't know how t-to get to the P-P-Pokemon Center, and… it's pretty cold."

Will's stoic expression melted away.

"Come with us. We can get you to the Pokemon Center and find you some warmer clothes," he said softly, not looking up to meet Jimmy's eyes.

The depressed look that Jimmy had disappeared just as quickly as it had come after hearing that. It was exactly what he had wanted to hear, and his face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Th-thank you! Y-you don't know how much I appre—" Jimmy paused suddenly and scanned the surrounding area. "We? Is there someone else here?"

Finally deciding to make himself known, Pyro stepped forward after hearing the question. He walked in between Will and Jimmy and smiled up at the shivering teen.

"Hey there, I'm Pyro!" he said. "It's nice to meet you, Jimmy."

He smiled once again at the shaking teen warmly. In response, Jimmy's eyes shot open wide.

"Whoa!" he cheered. Excited, he bent down towards Pyro and stuck out his hand, as if trying to shake Pyro's non-existent hand. "I'm J-Jimmy Ander—Oh, wait. Y-You already know th-that." He paused for a second and looked dejected. However, he quickly shook it off and perked back up again.

With another broad smile amidst his shivering, Jimmy continued, "Well since y-you know who I am, what's your n-name, buddy?"

Pyro opened his beak to answer, but before he could even make a sound, Jimmy suddenly jumped back up and faced Will. With wide eyes, he bowed his head towards Will and stared at the snow-covered ground.

"I'm s-so sorry! You're b-being so nice to m-me, and I n-never even asked for your name!"

His only movement was the shivering of his arms as Will stood silently, only staring at Jimmy. His face was stolid once again.

 _I'm not sure what this guy's issue is, but I just want to get him to the Center and be done with him._

"Don't worry about it. I'm Will Knight, and my partner over there is Pyro."

As soon as he spoke, Jimmy brought himself back up to eye level with Will. Just like before, the sad expression dissolved instantly and his broad smile returned. He then looked back towards Pyro.

"It's nice to m-meet you both, Pyro," He looked over towards Will next. "And W-Will."

Pyro smiled in response and nodded his head in agreement. Will nodded as well, but unlike Pyro, his face was still neutral.

"Should we get going to the Pokemon Center and find you some warmer clothes?" he asked evenly.

Somehow Jimmy's smile grew even wider when he heard that and between shivers, he said, "That'd be great! Th-thanks!"

Without another word, Will turned around and walked back towards the Pokemon Center. Pyro followed behind, used to this behavior. Jimmy, though, just stared for a moment, not sure what to do. However, after a moment, he realized that he was being left behind and ran on head, slipping and sliding across the slick sidewalks all the way to the Center.

* * *

"Thank you soooooooo much!"

Jimmy was standing in the center of the Pokemon Center lobby, fresh out of the restroom. He had changed into a new pair of dark blue jeans, a red long sleeve shirt, and a black winter jacket. Now more suited for the environment of Snowpoint, he looked less out of place.

"This feels much warmer!"

Will, standing next to the nurse's counter with Pyro, nodded his head in response. His partner, meanwhile, smiled broadly and complimented the other trainer on his new look.

"You seem to be much more suited for Snowpoint now!" he cheered, bouncing up and down with excitement. "Now you can train in the cold without freezing!"

Will nodded his head in agreement with Pyro, but he was nowhere near as excited.

 _And now we can be rid of him._ With a small eye roll, Will thought, _So much for someone to help us train for the Gym Leader._

Aloud, he said, "Well, we need to be going—"

"—Oh, wait!"

Before Will could even take a step towards the door, Jimmy had reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him from going anywhere. As soon as Jimmy grabbed him, Will tensed up. He looked over towards the other boy and glared harshly. Seeing the look, Jimmy released his hold immediately, but didn't seem fazed past that.

"You guys can't leave yet; you haven't met my partner!" Before either Will or Pyro could say anything, Jimmy grabbed a Pokeball out of his jacket pocket and lightly tossed it into the air. "Say hi to Chespin!"

In a bright flash of light, a green and brown bipedal Pokémon. He had two sharp-looking claws on each of his feet and a short tail. When he appeared from inside his Pokeball, Chespin stretched a bit as he yawned.

For the first since he had met Jimmy, Will was interested. He leaned forwards towards the other boy and his partner ever so slightly and eyed the Chespin with a sense of excitement.

 _Maybe he isn't as useless as I thought…_

"It's nice to meet you, Chespin," Will said, his stoic expression hiding whatever excitement he was feeling.

Following suit, Pyro waved his right wing.

"Wow!" he cheered, running towards the other Pokemon. "I'm Pyro! It's really awesome to meet you!"

Chespin waved back to Will politely, but when Pyro greeted him, his face lit up similarly to how Jimmy's does. He dashed over to Pyro and stuck out his little brown hand.

"Wow, I've never seen a Pokemon like you before, Pyro! What species are you?" As he spoke, he extended his arm for a hand shake.

Grinning just as widely, Pyro replied, "I'm a Torchic!" Then, after glancing down towards the extended hand, he joked, "I'd love to shake your hand, but these wings just don't do it."

For emphasis, he shook his wings, causing Chespin and Jimmy to laugh. Will, however, watched the exchange silently, still eyeing Chespin. Pyro, Chespin, and Jimmy continued joking among themselves as Will did some thinking.

 _Chespin seems pretty young; I wonder if he has done any battling?_ Will watched as the group of three started to laugh again. They already looked as though they had been friends for a while, not the few minutes that they had actually known each other. _I guess there's only one way to figure out._

"So, have you guys done any battling?" Will asked suddenly, cutting off the laughter from whatever joke had just been told.

Chespin looked at Will confusedly, while Jimmy sheepishly scratched at the back of his head. Clearing his throat, he shook his head.

"We haven't actually done any training yet, let alone battling," he explained. Looking down, he said, "Professor Sycamore actually paired us together the morning that my family and I left Kalos to come to Sinnoh, and we've been on the boat since then."

Will scowled slightly at the explanation, but quickly returned to his usual stoic expression. Neither Jimmy nor Chespin seemed to notice it, but Pyro watched his partner narrow-eyed after the slip-up.

"We were hoping to actually start training today now that we're in Sinnoh," Jimmy continued, his inflection lifting towards the end as he stared at Will with a poorly-hidden smile.

The veiled message that Jimmy was trying to convey was not lost on Will. He knew precisely what Jimmy wanted, but Will had no desire to help another trainer when it would do nothing in his quest for strength. He opened his mouth to say 'No,' but before he could say anything, Pyro jumped in.

"That'd be great!" he said excitedly. "We'd love to help you both train!"

However, despite speaking primarily to Jimmy and Chespin, Pyro was staring directly at Will. He was smiling, but the look in his eyes sent a clear message to Will.

 _Why does he want us to train with them?_ he wondered. _I don't see any reason to waste our time helping them when we still need to prepare for our Gym Battle._

Unlike Will, though, Jimmy and Chespin both lit up like Christmas trees when they heard Pyro. Chespin began to bounce in place, while Jimmy air-punched.

"This is going to be great!" Jimmy exclaimed mid-punch. Then, looking right at Will, he said, "Thank you so much!"

Fighting the urge to scowl, yell, or do both, Will, through his stoic expression, said, "Don't worry about it. We're," he paused briefly, staring right at Pyro. "Happy to help."

Pyro smiled at Will, despite knowing what he really wanted to say. Seemingly pleased with himself, Pyro then walked up to Chespin and began to joke with him again as Jimmy moved towards Will.

"I really appreciate this," he said frankly, his face serious. "I'll make you proud!"

Will was surprised by the sudden seriousness, but was no more excited about the training than he was before. However, he stuck his hand out towards Jimmy as he nodded his head.

"I hope you do."

Jimmy smiled broadly and shook Will's hand. The two then walked back towards the exit of the Pokemon Center with Pyro and Chespin following along behind. Will had only one thought in his mind as they walked to Acuity Lakefront.

 _This is going to be a long day._

* * *

"Focus!"

Will shouted the same word that he had said almost a half-dozen times since they had begun training just over an hour before. His neutral expression was long since gone, replaced by a scowl. He was standing behind Jimmy and Chespin with Pyro as the duo tried to practice some of Chespin's moves.

"S-sorry!" Jimmy yelped out, mid-shaking once more. Despite both the warmer clothes and Jimmy himself saying he didn't feel cold, he was shaking once more. Will didn't understand why, but it did annoy him slightly. "Vine Wh-Whip!"

Thin vines appeared from Chespin's back and extended forwards quickly towards the snowmen that the four had set up down range as targets. Chespin whipped at one of the targets, trying to smack it across it's snowy face, but he missed entirely. Instead of the snowman, Chespin had struck a tree that stood nearly ten feet away, and this was not the first time that it happened.

"You need to focus," Will reiterated angrily. "I've been repeating that since we've started, but you aren't doing it."

Jimmy sighed in response. He turned to face his trainer with a disappointed look on his face.

"We're trying to focus, promise," he said. "We're focusing on the move and when to use it, but it isn't working."

Shaking his head, Will replied, "That's because you're only focusing before you use it. Think of it this way, Jimmy." He paused for a second and walked closer to the duo. "When you swing a baseball bat, do you think only before you swing, or do you think before you swing, while you swing, and after you swing?"

At that, Jimmy's smile dropped and was replaced by a thoughtful expression. He frowned slightly as he brought his glove-covered left hand to his chin and stared off in the direction of the targets. Chespin, after seeing Jimmy visually ponder the advice Will gave, brought his own hand to his chin and looked towards the targets. Will watched the scene with a raised eyebrow but said nothing as Pyro watched the two with a smile.

After about ten seconds of the duo thinking, Jimmy nodded his head and turned back towards Will. "I think we get," he said as Chespin nodded in agreement.

Instead of replying, Will held his hands out in front of him, palms up, pointing to the target. His face remained neutral as Jimmy realized what he meant. He looked down towards Chespin and nodded confidently with a broad smile.

"Ready to try again, buddy?" he asked.

Chespin nodded with a determined expression on his face, ready to try again. The two both took in a deep breath and stared ahead at the targets. It looked like the pair of goofballs were gone, replaced by two serious-looking trainees. Will welcomed the change.

 _Wow, it finally looks like they're taking this seriously,_ he thought, his mood beginning to shift.

"Alright, pal," Jimmy said slowly. He breathed deeply one more time before calling, "Vine Whip!"

Chespin, milliseconds after exhaling, launched two vines from his back that shot rapidly towards the targets. He was visibly focused on the attack with his feet planted firmly, and his gaze directed totally at the snowmen. His first vine successfully smacked one of the snowmen across its face, leaving a small dent in the snow. Shortly after the first hit its mark, the second went to strike, but instead of hitting the target, it struck the first vine.

"Ow! Ow! OW!"

Chespin cried in pain after he whipped his own vine and began to wildly stomp around the area. The vines shot back towards him and disappeared back into Chespin's back nearly immediately after he cried out. In response, Jimmy dashed over to his partner and bent down into the snow.

"Are y-you alright, buddy!?" he asked, shaking slightly.

Chespin nodded his head rapidly, but said, "Yeah, but it hurtsssss!"

He continued to bounce up and down as he dramatically wailed in pain, causing Jimmy to smile a bit. That small smirk then soon morphed into a broad grin and laughter.

"Good job there, Chespin!" he jokingly cheered in between laughs. "You lost our first-ever battle—to yourself!"

He began to laugh even harder as Chespin digested what he said. After a couple of seconds, Chespin also began laughing, realizing the silly mistake he had made. Pyro began giggling shortly after Chespin joined in after realizing that he was alright, just a tad over-dramatic. Will, however, watched with a frown and glare.

He stood still without word as he watched the three of them laughing for nearly twenty more seconds. All the while, his frown grew larger and his glare harsher. When another ten seconds went by without change, Will stepped forwards, standing above Jimmy and Chespin as Pyro watched from behind, no longer laughing as he realized what was about to happen.

"Are you both done."

His voice was stone-cold, and while he had phrased it as a question, it came off as a statement. He glared down at Jimmy and Chespin, and the two gulped as they saw the anger in his gaze.

"Er…Y-Yeah, we're done," Jimmy replied hesitantly. He began to slowly stand back up, but as soon as he did, the five-inch difference in their height seemed to double. "S-Sorry about that, Will…"

Chespin nodded his head slowly in agreement as he stood otherwise still, his eyes wide. While Will would have normally let it be, he felt angrier than he had in a while as his thoughts unintentionally went back to the picture of the murdered boy in the news. Will inhaled slowly, his chest rising as he breathed, and as he began to exhale, he spoke.

"Why aren't you two focusing!?" he asked. "I've said it more than a half-dozen times since we started and I even explained in depth what you need to do, yet the two of you still can't do it!?"

Jimmy raised his hands in defense with his palms facing Will, but the yelling continued anyways.

"You need to focus if you're ever going to become strong!"

Will stood in silence for a bit but continued to glare. Jimmy, confused, tilted his head slightly to the right as his brow furrowed. He stared at Will silently for a moment.

"We're trying, Will," he said hesitantly after the pause. Still on defense, he continued, "This is our first time training; we're bound to make mistakes. I promise that we're trying to focus, and I'm sorry if it doesn't seem like it to you."

Jimmy visibly relaxed after speaking, expecting his explanation to soothe the harsh feelings. However, Will's brow furrowed in response, and his glare once more worsened.

"You're _trying_?" he asked rhetorically. "You're _trying_." He barked a non-humorous laugh. "That's not good enough!"

Jimmy's eyes widened in shock at the shout. He was flabbergasted by the reaction.

"I-I'm sorry if w-we offended you at all, Will, I truly am," he said slowly.

Will's glare lessened, but the rest of his angry expression remained the same.

"If you want to be strong," he began with less venom than before but still fierce. "You have to do more than try! Strength comes from hard work and sacrifice! You can't laugh and joke your way to the League!"

"I kn-know that, Will," Jimmy replied instantly, his voice still timid. "Like I s-said, I'm sorry if we offended you in any way, but life is about more than being strong."

Will didn't move as Jimmy spoke, nor did he retort when Jimmy paused, so he took that as a sign to continue.

"Do I want to be Ch-Champion?" he asked. Not waiting for a response, Jimmy answered, "Y-Yes, of course. That's why I left my f-family behind in a new region to become a trainer, but there's more to life than this."

By this point, Jimmy stood taller, and the height difference between the two seemed to lessen.

"I want to be Champion, but what's more important to me on this journey is making new friends…" he trailed off there, staring Will directly in the eyes as he said the word 'friends.' "And making my family proud. Those are both more important to me than becoming the strongest trainer ever."

Having said his peace, Jimmy stood silent as he waited for Will's reply. For his part, Will waited silently as he tried to comprehend everything that Jimmy had said to him. It had all sounded foreign to Will, especially when he spoke about making new friends. However, within a few seconds, Will's mind was already made up.

Still silent, Will turned around and began walking back towards Pyro, whom had watched the entire scene with wide eyes silently. He bent down and picked up his sling backpack from the ground next to his partner and put it over his back. Only then turning back towards Jimmy, he finally spoke.

"Good luck with the League."

Without another word, he began to walk away. Neither Jimmy nor Chespin moved or spoke to stop him, instead watching him walk away with disappointed frowns on their faces. Pyro, meanwhile, snapped out of the daze he was in and ran to catch up to Will, leaving the other duo behind to disappear in the snow.

"Will…"

Pyro trailed off as they walked away from Jimmy and Chespin, the two only then disappearing from Pyro's sight behind them. He then turned to face Will as they walked, his gaze piercing but not hostile and his head tilted to the right. Will, hearing Pyro, glanced downwards to see his partner without ever moving his head.

"What."

As he had before with Jimmy, Will spoke bluntly in a statement, despite it being a question. His voice wasn't harsh but instead back to its usual neutral tone. However, his brow was still furrowed in anger, so it wasn't difficult for Pyro to guess what was on his mind.

"Why did you snap at him?" he asked innocently. Before Will had the chance to respond, though, he quickly added, "He just wanted a friend to help—and, yes, he does consider you a friend, whether you think the same or not."

The two walked in silence after Pyro said that. Will was still looking at his partner through the corner of his eye, but he had no response. Not surprised, Pyro didn't push him any further on the subject. However, he had one last thing to say.

"Why don't you want to grow close to anyone anymore?"

At that, Will visibly reacted. His neutral expression broke, revealing wide eyes. It lasted for no more than a moment, but it was enough for Pyro to notice. He said nothing, though, instead waiting for Will to say something.

They continued to walk for almost a full minute in silence before Will replied, "Friends…" He stopped himself and moved his gaze away from Pyro, back solely on the path ahead of them. "Friends just leave you to die when you need them most."

Before Pyro could interrupt him, Will barked yet another non-humorous laugh. "I know that better than anyone," he said, a small teardrop falling from his right eye as he finished.

Pyro slowly closed his beak upon hearing that. He continued walking, but he stared entirely at Will, his eyes wide in a look concern. No matter how much he hated to admit it, though, he knew that Will wasn't going to say anything more on the matter.

So, after a couple of more minutes of silence, Pyro asked, "Where are we going, Will?"

Pyro still couldn't see Will's face, so he had no clue what he was feeling, yet alone thinking. He had been following along behind him since they left Jimmy and Chespin, but despite their original plan being to continue training for a couple hours, they were headed back to town.

Will finally glanced back towards Pyro once more, his face stone, and replied as simply as possible.

"The Snowpoint Gym."

* * *

 **Firstly, sorry everybody. Year two was busier than expected in the beginning since I started working a part-time job along with my studies, so one month will probably be standard for updates not counting breaks now that I'm in the swing on things. I feel good about this chapter, and I know next chapter is going to probably be my favorite so far. Thank you all for your incredible patience, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **1\. What are your initial impressions of Jimmy?**

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** _Left Cold!_

Annoyed by his meeting with the fellow-newbie trainer, Jimmy, Will decides to just challenge the Gym Leader out of the blue without any more training. Despite the League rules decreeing the battle a two versus two and Will having only one Pokemon, he challenges her. The Gym Leader accepts the challenge, but what're the odds this goes well for Will!?

* * *

 **Strength Arc:**

 **Snowpoint City:**

 **Chapter 5:** _Left Cold!_

 **Chapter 6:** _Warming a Cold Shoulder_

 **Chapter 7:** _A New Dawn!_

 **Chapter 8:** _Avoiding the Avalanche!_


	5. Left Cold

**Waking up on the second day of their journey, Will wondered why had been having so many panic attacks. As he thinks about it, though, another attack occurs as he watches the news report regarding the teen Will's age that had died the previous morning to an attack by an Ursaring. After this, he woke up Pyro to see a ship docked, so the two went to see if any new trainers had come from there. They ended up meeting a rookie named Jimmy Anderson and eventually went to train with him and his partner, Chespin.**

* * *

 **Serene-Raven:** It's awesome hearing from you! It's been quite a while! I'm glad that you're enjoying Will's backstory. It's definitely one of my favorite parts about the story. Jimmy's character is up there for me as well, so I'm equally happy to see you like him. Thanks for spotting that error for me. I appreciate the help! Thanks for the review!

* * *

 **Will's Team:**

 **-Pyro (Torchic):** _Scratch, Growl, Ember_

* * *

"Welcome, challenger!"

Will and Pyro had just walked in through a sliding glass door when they were greeted by a small middle-aged man wearing a black suit with a smile. He stood still with his feet apart and his hands on his hips. Will raised an eyebrow at the man, but said nothing, instead nodding his head in way of a greeting, which Pyro mimicked.

Seeing this, the man continued, asking, "Do you have an appointment with Lady Candice?"

Will shook his head in response, saying, "No, sir. I would still like to battle her, though, if she is able to."

The man frowned when hearing that and pulled out a small planner from his inside jacket pocket. He flipped through the pages silently as Will and Pyro watched until he arrived to what Will assumed to be that day's schedule. While he couldn't see it, he assumed it was likely to be nearly blank, as he hadn't heard of any battles happening here in weeks. He generally came to watch when Candice had battles, especially with higher-ranked trainers.

The sight annoyed him. Still angry about Jimmy, watching this man patronize him, slowly flipping through pages to what he knew to be an empty day made Will want to smack the book out of his hands. Fighting the urge to do just that, Will clenched his right fist in anger.

To try and calm himself, Will took a look around the gym. He had seen it dozens of times as a spectator but coming in as a challenger was a whole other feeling for him. The entire building was incredibly open, with the battlefield in the middle that was seemingly a sheet of ice, bleachers along either side, and Pokemon statues made of ice around the edges.

"I'm sorry," the man began after a moment. "But since you don't have an appointment, I don't think you can challenge Lady Candice at the moment since you don't have an appo—"

"Seriously, Marvin? You know that I don't mind people coming in without appointments if I'm free."

Interrupting the man, apparently named Marvin, was a woman whom seemed to be in her late twenties. Despite the cold outside, she was wearing only a white long-sleeved, collared shirt and a brown skirt. She came out of seemingly nowhere, surprising Will as he had just been looking around the gym, but he instantly knew who she was.

"Candice."

The woman's braided, black pigtails whipped around slightly as she nodded her head. She smiled slightly as she glanced between Will and Pyro, pausing her gaze slightly on the backpack Will wore.

"Young man!" Marvin snapped. His face was red, and he was glaring right at Will. "You should treat Lady Candice with more respect! She is one of the most powerful Gym Leaders in the entire—"

"—Thank you, Marvin!"

Candice interrupted Marvin and rolled her eyes. She put her hands on her hips as she stared right at him, a playful smile on her face.

"Don't worry about it, Marvin," she said. "I've known Will here for quite a while. He's been coming in to watch Gym Battles since he moved here however many years ago."

The man nodded his head as Candice said that but never stopped staring at her. Marvin looked between the two, still glaring slightly at Will when he looked at him, but Marvin said nothing. He just nodded his head in the direction of Candice, bowed slightly, and moved towards the battlefield silently.

Both Will and Candice watched as he disappeared from view before shifting their attention back to each other. Candice grinned at him and chuckled slightly.

"He's new here," she explained with a shrug. "Just started a week ago."

Will nodded his head in response, his right fist clenched still. However, while his knuckled had previously begun to turn white, the color was starting to come back.

"I assume you know why we're here then," Will spoke bluntly, but there was still an air of respect in his voice. He glanced downwards at Pyro as he spoke, who was standing silently and smiling up at Candice.

She smiled back at Pyro and nodded at him before re-addressing Will.

"That I do," she replied, her smile never wavering. "You didn't think that I'd just forget when my gym's number one fan would get his license, did you?"

The fist that Will had been holding released after Candice spoke, his hand now sitting peacefully at his side. He smiled ever so slightly and nodded his head.

"I should've known better, sorry," he said with the small smile. He stretched out his hands with his palms facing upwards and asked, "So? Are we going to battle?"

Pyro nodded his head after he spoke, echoing, "We've wanted to battle you for quite a while!"

Candice chuckled slightly as she heard that.

"It's definitely a battle that I've been looking forward to for a while," she said. "Not only have you been watching how I battle for a while, but you have a type advantage." Candice paused slightly, smirking slightly as she spoke about Pyro's type. "Though I'm sure you remember how many times my team and I have dealt with type disadvantages."

Will's smile disappeared, and his stoic expression returned as he said, "Oh, I'm well aware. I've seen you beat fire types one too many times to think that alone is why we're going to beat you."

Pyro nodded his head in agreement, cheering, "Your team has got nothing on me!"

Rather than smiling at the banter, though, Candice tilted her head to the left in confusion. She rose one eyebrow and asked, "You do have another Pokemon now, right, Will? You of all people know that Gym Leaders in Sinnoh use two Pokemon in a battle for a challenger's first badge."

The right side of Will's mouth frowned slightly when he heard this, but he just nodded his head.

"I'm aware of the rule," he replied evenly. "But I'm confident that Pyro and I are strong enough on our own to beat two of your Pokemon."

He was staring at Candice dead-on. She rolled her eyes as she heard that, her smile fading into a copy of Will's own stoic expression.

"You think that the two of you are strong of enough to beat me on the second day of your journey without another Pokemon?" she asked, as though trying to clarify.

When Will and Pyro both nodded, she simply sighed.

"If you were anyone else, I'd simply tell you to leave and not come back until you caught another Pokemon, you know." She shook her head as she paused, a smile coming back to her face. "But I'll let the two of you battle anyways, against my better judgement."

Pyro grinned as he heard that, and even Will smiled slightly, all anger from before seemingly gone for the moment.

"Thanks!" Pyro cheered in reply for the both of them. "You won't regret it!"

Candice rolled her eyes as her smile grew. "Well Pyro, I hope that you're right. You two had better give me one hell of a battle," she said, winking at the end.

With that said, Candice walked away, heading towards the battlefield. She took the side to the right, the side where she always battled, Will knew. He and Pyro, after sharing a quick glance, followed, but instead went to the left side, where the challenger stood. Marvin was waiting for them at the center of the battlefield in the referee's box. He stood with a flag in each hand, one green and the other red.

"This will be a battle between our very own Snowpoint City Gym Leader, Candice, and her challenger, Will Knight of Snowpoint City!" he began, announcing the battle as though there was a crowd, despite there being no one else in the gym. "This will be a two versus two—"

"Actually," Candice interrupted, silencing Marvin instantly. "Will has only one Pokemon, so it will be two versus one."

Marvin's eyes went wide at the statement, and he turned to glare at Will murderously. He opened his mouth as though to yell, but he was stopped by a short cough from Candice, which caused Marvin to straighten up.

"Can we continue now please, Marvin?" she asked innocently as he turned to face her.

Nodding his head furiously, he replied, "Of course, Lady Candice. I apologize for the interruption." Clearing his voice, Marvin continued, "This will be a two versus one battle. When one side's team is no longer able to battle, the fight is over!"

He then stopped for a moment, allowing them both to bring out their first—or in Will's case, only—Pokemon. Will looked down at Pyro and nodded. With a smile, Pyro walked over onto the battlefield in front of his partner and waited for the battle to begin.

At the same time, Candice grabbed a minimized Pokeball from off her belt. She tapped the button, causing the sphere to grow, and tossed it into the air. In a bright flash of light, a small brown-furred Pokemon appeared. It had darker brown stripes on its side and a pink nose

"The first battle will be between Lady Candice and her Swinub and the challenger, Will, and his Torchic," Marvin continued. Candice rolled her eyes for some reason as he spoke, but Will paid it no mind, instead focusing on the battle. "Let the battle begin!"

Wasting no time, Will called, "Ember, Pyro!"

With no hesitation, Pyro reared back his head and opened his beak widely. In less than a second, he began to fire a barrage of fireballs at Swinub. The spheres rocketed across the battlefield as high speeds, but neither Candice nor Swinub appeared concerned.

Almost lazily, she countered, "Mud Sport."

Swinub bounced into the air, and as soon as he hit the ground, a large puddle of mud appeared all around him. In the same moment, the mud rose from the ground, wrapped itself around him, and then hardened into a tough shell. Completely encased in the mud, Swinub had nowhere to run as the fireballs shot towards him.

Will watched in confusion as the Ember attack struck its mark, but nothing happened. Each strike after the next did nothing but leave a scorch mark on the encased Swinub.

"I told you that I have ways of dealing with fire types, Will," Candice said from the opposite end with a grin. "I hope you didn't think I was joking."

Shaking his head, he responded, "I didn't doubt you for a moment. I've just never seen Mud Sport used to block anything but electric moves."

"That's a bit of a secret of mine," Candice explained. "Swinub and I have only been together for a couple of weeks now, but we quickly learned when training that Mud Sport, when used like shield rather than an insulator, can block some weaker fire type attacks with ease."

Will scowled when hearing the word 'weaker,' but he didn't focus on it.

 _Candice is an expert battler,_ he thought. _She'll say whatever she can to try and disrupt my focus, but I'm not as easy a mark as some of her past challengers!_

"Hit 'em with a Scratch!" he shouted aloud, pointing towards Swinub.

Pyro dashed towards the still-encased Swinub as quickly as hit short legs allowed him to. However, just after he began, the mud melted back into liquid form and then dissolved into the ground, leaving Swinub looking just as he did beforehand. Candice smiled as Pyro ran towards her and Swinub, but the smile certainly didn't make Will or Pyro feel happy.

"Block him with Mud-Slap!" she called.

Instantly, Swinub leaped five feet in the air, despite its size. He then began to spin around midair, and as he did, he glowed with a brown aura. As he spun and fell back towards the ground, six globs of mud shot out from the aura towards the oncoming figure of Pyro.

He was surprised by the sudden counter, but it didn't faze him. Pyro dodged the first several shots entirely, pivoting to a different direction just before he was hit. However, the fourth glob struck him in the side, slowing his momentum. This allowed the next two to hit him directly, forcing Pyro down to the ground.

With Pyro being only ten feet away from Swinub, though, Will knew he couldn't let the opportunity that they had fly by.

"Ember!" he ordered.

From the ground, Pyro leaped back up, reared his head back once more, and let loose another round of fireballs. With the short distance between himself and Swinub, Pyro felt certain that they would hit, so he stopped after only a second. However, he quickly realized that was a mistake.

"Powder Snow!" Candice yelled milliseconds after in response.

Swinub opened his mouth up as widely as possible and breathed out a gust of cold wind towards Pyro, which contained a barrage of white snowballs. The freezing stream completely nullified Pyro's Ember, causing both the fireballs and the Powder Snow to dissipate nearly instantly.

"Mud-Slap!" Candice said immediately after.

Without giving Will and Pyro a moment to think, Swinub leaped into the air and spun around again. Just like before, a half-dozen globs of mud shot towards Pyro, who was still but a short distance away. With no chance to dodge, the only thing that Will could do was watch as his partner was splattered time and time again from short range.

With every hit, Pyro was knocked back. By the time that the last glob had struck, Pyro was right back in front of Will panting. He stared dead ahead at his opponent and nodded before spitting a bit of mud out from his beak.

Will, seeing that, called, "Let's keep this going! Ember!"

Eager to get back into it, Pyro sprinted back across the battlefield. He was visibly running slower than before, but Pyro never wavered. Once he reached the middle line on the field, he reared back his head and fired off yet another barrage. However, learning from his earlier mistake, he didn't stop firing as he continued running towards Swinub.

The round of fireballs shot towards Swinub quickly, but like Pyro himself, they were slower than before. Swinub watched for a moment and did nothing as he and Candice both observed the situation. Seconds before he was going to be hit by the oncoming barrage, Candice finally spoke up.

"Block it with Mud Sport!"

In almost no time, a puddle of mud appeared around Swinub once more. Just like it had before, the mud rose around him, enveloping Swinub in a case of mud that quickly hardened into a defensive shell. Like a broken record, the fireballs were nullified completely by the counter, but Pyro continued to run forward, even after stopping his attack.

"Scratch!" Will yelled suddenly.

Candice's eyes went wide upon hearing that, but she quickly composed herself, even smiling as Pyro quickly was closing the distance between himself and Swinub.

"Valiant effort, Will," she said casually as Pyro ran. "But close-quarter fighting won't turn out any better for you than ranged did. Tackle, Swinub!"

Just as Pyro got within a few feet of Swinub, he shot forwards like a bullet towards Pyro. Swinub slammed right into Pyro's chest before he even had a chance to acknowledge that he was attacking. Pyro was knocked back a few feet, but he was still more than close enough for a speedy counter. Before Will had a chance to even speak, though, Candice beat him to the punch.

"End this with Mud-Slap!" she called with a tone of finality as she grinned at her opponent.

Leaping into the air right above Pyro, Swinub began spinning once more. As he spiraled around, another half-dozen globs of mud came rocketing towards the battlefield. Pyro had no time to do anything but watch in fear as all six globs came down on top of him.

He was struck by every single one of them, and they knocked him back and forth as they came down. To add insult or injury, Swinub himself slammed down into Pyro after the mud barrage ended. It was then that he fell to the ground, unable to get back up.

Will's eyes instantly went wide when he saw Pyro go down. His arms fell limply to his sides and he found himself able to do nothing but stare at his fallen partner. In their nine years of being together, this was the first time that Pyro had ever fainted.

 _We… we lost_ , he thought slowly. _We have to get stronger… so much stronger._

"That was a good effort, Will, Pyro," Candice commended from her trainer's box, bringing Will out from his thoughts. "You two work well together, but you both have areas to improve."

She began to walk forwards across the battlefield, reaching into her pocket with her right hand as she moved. Passing by Swinub—who glanced up at her and smiled, she grabbed his Pokeball and recalled him in another flash of light without ever looking away from Will.

When she reached Pyro, she bent down and picked up him up, cradling him in her arms, still unconscious. Will watched her help his partner, but his expression never changed. He stood as still as before, but his once limp arms now held fists that were so tight that caused his knuckles to turn white.

"You can't keep blindly focusing on strength, Will."

Candice, then only a couple of feet away from Will, stared at him dead-on. Her gaze was piercing but not unfriendly. She still held Pyro in her arms, but she moved him towards Will. Without saying anything, he grabbed his partner from Candice's arms.

"I'm serious, Will," she continued after a moment, her gaze still locked onto his. "You need to realize that there is so much more to life, to a Pokemon League journey, than just being strong."

Will said nothing in response. Balancing Pyro against his chest with his left arm, Will grabbed a Pokeball off of his belt and pressed the button, recalling Pyro.

"We're going to train and get stronger. We'll be back soon, and I know that we'll beat you," he said simply after putting the Pokeball back on his belt, ignoring what Candice had said entirely.

"Will…" she trailed off warningly as her gaze shifted into more of a glare. "I just want the best for you, and if you only focus on strength, your journey will not be a pleasant one."

Will shook his head in response. He turned to face the door, ready to leave. However, before he did, Will glanced back and said, "I do appreciate your advice, but I know what I'm doing. I'm going to become strong."

He stared at Candice unwaveringly, but she never wavered.

"While I might… _disagree_ with your thought process, you're a Pokemon Trainer," Candice replied evenly. "You are legally able to make your own decision, and even if I don't think it's best, you're free to do what you like."

Will nodded his head in thanks, but Candice wasn't finished.

"However, I am free to say that as the Snowpoint City Gym Leader, I will not accept a rematch from you until you are able to battle in a two versus two format," she said, her voice still stern. Candice continued staring at Will for another moment before sighing. "Will…Find another Pokemon for your team please. That is truly the magic of going on an adventure, and it is what will help you grow. Just take it under consideration please, that's all I ask."

Will was silent, but he nodded his head slowly.

"I'll keep it under consideration."

With that said, he walked towards the exit with another word or look back. He was heading back to the Pokemon Center with one thing on his mind.

 _We_ will _get stronger. We have to._

* * *

 **Hey, everybody! Not going to lie, I'm actually quite pleased with myself for how quickly this came out despite schoolwork and becoming rather obsessed with Black Clover (which I recommend highly, despite some flaws). It was definitely shorter than the last chapter, but this wasn't meant to be super long. I hope you all enjoyed it!**

 **1\. How was the first battle of the story? I promise they'll only get better from here whether you liked it or not, though, thanks to better movesets ;)**

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** _Warming a Cold Shoulder_

Put out after their loss, Will and Pyro decide to continue training. They go to Acuity Lakefront, but while they're training, they hear a groaning sound. After investigating, they see a familiar figure that's been hurt and then go to the Pokemon Center to help them. Who is this figure!?

* * *

 **Strength Arc:**

 **Snowpoint City:**

 **Chapter 7:** _A New Dawn!_

 **Chapter 8:** _Avoiding the Avalanche!_


	6. Warming a Cold Shoulder

**After getting angry with Jimmy, Will found himself at the Snowpoint Gym with Pyro. Determined to prove their strength already, he challenged the Gym Leader, Candice, to a battle. They fought hard, but Will and Pyro ended up losing. Candice urged Will to find another Pokemon and come back, but also wanted to remind him what a journey is meant to be. However, Will left without Candice's message getting through.**

* * *

 **Serene-Raven:** I'm glad that you enjoyed the battle, even if it was a little short. Will's going to get some reminders throughout his journey about what's truly important. There'll be several characters helping to teach him what it's all about, so eventually he'll learn it's about more than just strength. Thanks for the review!

 **Blaze Falcon:** I'm glad that you liked the battle and that I surprise you a bit ;) I'm guessing you won't be too surprised on who they meet as you seem pretty certain, but we'll see if I'm able to surprise you again. Thanks for the review!

* * *

 **Will's Team:**

 **-Pyro (Torchic):** _Scratch, Growl, Ember_

* * *

"How much further do you want to go, Will?"

Pyro was walking behind Will, careful to stay in his footprints since the snow outside the city was halfway up Pyro's legs otherwise. The two had been walking through Acuity Lakefront for almost an hour by that point, much further than they had ever gone before. Despite the heavy snowfall, they had continued on with Pyro staying silent until that moment.

"It's been almost an hour since we left Snowpoint," he said. "This is as good a spot as any, I think."

Will said nothing in response, but he did stop. He glanced around the area and spotted an empty clearing to their right past some trees. He turned back to face Pyro, who had begun to play around in the snow for a bit as he waited for Will.

"Let's head over here," he said. Not waiting for Pyro to respond, Will began walking over to their right.

Since they lost to Candice the day before, Will had been even more tight-lipped than normal. Pyro tried several times that night to crack a few jokes, but while Will would have at least responded to jokes before, he didn't even acknowledge them. Pyro didn't push him, though. If he wanted to train, then that was what Pyro was going to do.

He stopped playing in the snow when he noticed Will walk away and quickly went to follow again. In another minute, the two made it to the clearing that Will spotted, and Will set down his backpack on a stump after wiping off the snow. As Will set up, Pyro tried to warm up.

He stood quietly, slowly inhaling before letting it all out just as slowly. Attempting to focus on the training that was to come, Pyro tried to zone out all of the noises from his surroundings. The sound of the tree branches brushing against each other in the wind soon disappeared, followed by the sounds of the Pokemon scurrying around in the trees.

However, there was one sound that Pyro could not zone out. It was not a sound that he usually heard when they were in this area, so he found himself curious. He attempted to forget about it, but ever the curious one, Pyro couldn't help but walk towards it. The sound reminded Pyro of someone groaning, but he didn't know why he'd be hearing that out in the middle of nowhere.

"Where are you going?"

Pyro blinked twice before turning around and finding Will staring down at him blankly right in front of him. Will's gaze was neutral like normal, but his right eyebrow was ever so slightly raised.

"We're about to start training. Where are you going?" he repeated.

Shaking his head, Pyro replied, "Don't you hear that?"

Will stood silently for a moment, his stoic expression melting into a curious one. Standing up straight, Will glanced around and tried to listen to his surroundings. Like Pyro, he first heard the sound of tree branches in the wind and of Pokemon scurrying in the trees. Immediately after that, though, Will heard the same sound.

A groan.

Will lost his stoic look and instantly went wide-eyed. He quickly looked around to try and figure out where the sound was coming from. Looking behind him, further into the clearing than they had gone, the groan became louder. Without a word, he ran off in that direction.

"Will!?"

Pyro watched him dash off, but didn't stay for long. He hopped into Will's closest footprint and then ran after him. The two weren't running for long before they found the source of the groaning, though. When Will stopped moving, Pyro was still about ten feet behind him due to the relatively tall snow to him, so when he heard Will sigh, he was confused.

Arriving beside Will a few seconds later, Pyro understood why he had groaned. Laying down unconscious in the snow was a Snorunt. Obviously, the two couldn't know if this was the same Snorunt that they encountered two days before, but just the sight of another Snorunt made the two wary. Whether this was the same annoying Snorunt or not, though, Will scooped it up in his arms and began to make their way back to their training ground in the clearing.

As soon as they made it back, Will sat the Snorunt back down on to the snow and reached into his backpack. Pyro watched from a few feet away as Will grabbed a star-shaped object out from his pack. He then bent back down towards the Snorunt and slowly fed the revive to it.

The small healing item was easily swallowed by Snorunt, even unconscious, causing Will to then go back to his bag. He brought out a spray bottle—a Potion, Pyro knew—and sprayed it at the scrapes that Snorunt had around its body. Will then stood up and walked over to a tree stump a few feet away and sat down.

"Knowing our luck," he began as he sat down. "This is the exact same Snorunt."

Will didn't have to say which Snorunt, because Pyro knew exactly what he meant. While they had met dozens of Snorunt in the years that they lived in Snowpoint City, only one had left a negative impression.

"Well even if it is, maybe Snorunt will be so grateful that you helped it that it will stop its pranking," Pyro suggested, always the optimist.

Rolling his eyes, Will said, "That's probably why it was unconscious anyways. It probably annoyed the wrong person."

Trying to move to a more pleasant conversation, Pyro moved on past their previous encounter with Snorunt. "Who knows if this is the same one anyways," he said with a smile. "Whether it is or not, though, you did a really nice thing helping it, Will. I'm proud of you."

Will just nodded his head in response and, with a straight face, replied, "It's what any not-horrible person would have done. The whole point to being strong is protecting others that aren't. That's what strength is for."

To that, Pyro had nothing to say. He simply sighed and sat in silence for a bit. It didn't last long, though, because Will stood back up.

"We should get back to what we came here for, Pyro. We need to train."

Pyro quickly blinked three times as he remembered why it was they came to Acuity Lakefront. After finding the injured Snorunt, he had nearly forgotten that they came to train. However, he remembered that there was another reason that they came here. So, as Will walked towards the targets—five pillars of snow—that he had set up earlier before Pyro heard Snorunt, Pyro walked over to Will's backpack by Snorunt, unzipped it, and grabbed something inside with his beak, careful to make sure that Will didn't see.

Pyro quickly set an unused Pokeball next to the unconscious Snorunt before Will turned around and dashed over to his place twenty feet away from the targets. Just as he arrived, Will turned around, standing off to the left side of targets, far enough away that it was unlikely a stray fireball would hit him.

"Let's get to it then, Pyro. Focus on the targets, ignore the cold, and aim true."

Having said his peace, Will stood still and crossed his arms. Pyro knew what it was that Will wanted to see, so like before, he zoned out his surroundings as he began to inhale. The ambient sounds no longer mattered; Pyro was focused solely on the targets on the other side of the clearing. He tried to ignore the cold, but as he was standing in the snow, Pyro found that to be more difficult.

Exhaling the deep breath, Pyro opened his beak and fired off his first barrage of fireballs across the snow-covered clearing. Pyro aimed directly at his first target, the one furthest to the right and watched as the fireballs rocketed towards it. They cleared the distance in mere seconds and vaporized the snow instantly.

Pyro was pleased with himself, but he knew that there were still several more targets to go. Breathing in once more, he directed himself to the next target, focusing only on it. He unleashed another Ember towards it as he exhaled, and once again, his aim hit dead-on. The target vaporized once more, leaving only three.

Will watched with his usual stoic expression, so when Pyro glanced towards him, there was no sign of approval. He expected nothing less, though. His problem wasn't hitting targets in the beginning; it was continuing when he was tired. Unfortunately, between the training and frigid cold, he beginning to feel that exhaustion.

Pyro inhaled once more, but this time, his breathing was more ragged. Standing in the snow, Pyro was also starting to shake. However, he released another barrage of fireballs like before towards the original middle target. The first few struck the snowy pillar but did not quite melt it. The final couple of fireballs shot towards the target, but only one of them hit it, finally melting the snow. The other two landed against the snow on the ground, dissipating instantly.

Will shook his head as he watched, filling Pyro with disappointment in himself.

"You need to focus entirely on what you're doing," he said, frowning slightly. "If you let the cold and tiredness get to you now, what are you going to do whenever you face Swinub again? He was more than able to stall us out before, and you and I both know that he and Candice will be training more before our rematch."

Pyro nodded his head in agreement, recalling how easily Swinub blocked his Ember attacks the day before. Sighing, he once again tried to zone out his surroundings, but before he could, Pyro heard a weak voice from behind him that caused him to jump slightly in surprise.

"Sno…Runt…"

Knowing exactly who the voice belonged to, Pyro spun around and dashed over towards the laid-down Snorunt, the empty Pokeball still sitting in the snow beside it. He arrived at its side just as its eyes opened up slowly. Upon seeing Pyro, Snorunt's eyes instantly went wide.

Quickly shaking his head, Pyro eased it, saying, "Don't worry, we don't want to hurt you. We helped revive you after we found you unconscious in the trees over there."

Pyro nodded his head in the direction that they had found Snorunt. It slowly began to sit up and looked over in that direction. No sooner than it had looked over there, Will arrived and sighed quietly, feeling near-certain that he knew who this Snorunt was.

"Are you alright?" he asked casually, never looking directly at Snorunt.

It turned towards him when he asked and nodded its head slowly. It blinked a few times, as though trying to fully wake up. After doing so, it stared directly at Will and after a few moments, smiled devilishly.

"Sno…Sno runt!"

Will shook his head and sighed once more. Looking right at it, he asked, "You are the same Snorunt from a couple days ago, aren't you?"

Snorunt nodded its head, and fully awake at this point, jumped onto its tiny feet. It was a foot taller than Pyro, but was still dwarfed by Will. However, the height difference didn't seem to concern Snorunt at all as it grinned madly once again.

"Well we need to get back to training," Will began, turning away from Snorunt. "I'm glad you're feeling better, so feel free to leave and go wherever."

If Snorunt was shocked by Will telling it to go away, it didn't reveal anything. Instead, Snorunt's grin grew even wider as it began hopping in place.

"Sno! Runt!"

It stared right at Will, who glanced over his shoulder before walking away. His face was blank, but it was clear that he was not pleased. Pyro's eyes went wide for a moment when he heard what Snorunt had said, he recovered quickly and faced Will.

"Snorunt said that it…" Pyro trailed off, unsure of how to explain it to Will. His partner shifted his gaze from Snorunt directly on to Pyro, waiting for him to continue. "It doesn't plan to go anywhere if you're staying here."

Letting out what felt to him like his hundredth sigh of the day, Will replied, "Then we'll leave, whatever." He walked forwards towards the stump Snorunt and Pyro were standing by, picked up his backpack, and began to walk away. "Let's go, Pyro."

However, even as Will began to walk away, Pyro didn't budge. After making it about fifteen feet away, Will noticed that Pyro wasn't following him, though, causing him to stop and turn around. His usual calm demeanor was beginning to chip away.

"C'mon, Pyro. If Snorunt is going to stay here, then we'll just leave."

Shaking his head, Pyro responded, "I'm staying here _because_ Snorunt is." Will opened his mouth to reply, but Pyro cut him off. "Don't you remember what Candice said? We need to have another teammate, and that will help you grow."

He stood silently upon hearing that. Pyro wasn't completely sure what to make of it, but he took this as a chance to try and persuade him.

Taking a deep breath, Pyro continued, saying, "Candice called this the magic of an adventure. Growing with a team of Pokemon where everyone cares for each other is what will help make us strong. If we try to do this with just the two of us, then we're never going to become strong enough, and that would be on no one but yourself."

Will continued to sit in silence, seemingly processing what Pyro had just said. Snorunt, meanwhile, was surprisingly standing still, not bouncing around like before.

Suddenly, Will spoke, asking, "How did you end up unconscious in the clearing?"

That wasn't what Pyro or Snorunt were expecting him to say after the long silence. Pyro turned slightly towards Snorunt, curious himself. Snorunt, meanwhile, looked sort of out of character. It was standing almost completely still, as if frozen. However, it was shaking ever so slightly, and both Will and Pyro quickly spotted that.

"S-Sno…Runt."

It looked straight down at the ground, not meeting either Will's or Pyro's gaze. Both of them were shocked at the reaction. While they hadn't known the Snorunt for long, seeing the prankster look as terrified as it did worried them.

"Are you alright?" Pyro asked, patting Snorunt on its back with his wing to try and comfort it.

It nodded its head slowly before saying, "S-Sno. Runt. Sno!"

Pyro's eyes went wide when Snorunt finished and he turned towards Will with his beak agape. Will's eyes also went wide in response, unsure what happened but certain that it was serious. However, he quickly recovered, and his neutral expression returned.

"Snorunt…was attacked by another wild Pokemon after a prank, and…" he trailed off, telling Will pretty much all he needed to know. Pyro continued, though, confirming his fears. "It left Snorunt to die in the cold."

Will heard the statement, and even if he was expecting it, it hurt. He knew that situation all too well, but he couldn't let it bother him then.

 _No,_ he thought. _I_ cannot _allow this to break me. Not now. Not ever again._

With a forced straight face, Will said, "I'm sorry to hear that, Snorunt. But now that you're healed, you're free to go do whatever you'd like, so please don't let us keep you."

Snorunt shook its head and replied, "Sno. Runt. Sno."

Translating, Pyro explained, "Snorunt says that it—she, I mean—wants to travel with us, too." Staring Will dead-on, he continued, "And I think that we should let her join us. You said it yourself, she's strong."

Will furiously shook his head. "Snorunt attacked us two days ago! Have you forgotten that!?" Speaking directly to her now, he added, "I'm sorry for what happened to you—I truly am, but I can't just look past this that easily!"

Dejected, Snorunt slowly turned around and walked away, back to the woods. However, before she could, though, Pyro stuck out his wing in front of her.

"Just wait, Snorunt," he said. Then, facing Will again, he argued, "If you want to get strong, and seriously mean it, then you know that we have to grow out our team." Will opened his mouth to interject, but Pyro cut him off, continuing on with his argument. "Snorunt has some great potential. You and I both know it. Heck, you admitted it to her yourself."

On a roll, Pyro continued, saying, "Sure, she likes to prank people. Sure, she can get out of hand with that. But she didn't intend to hurt anyone, us included!"

Will simply stared at Pyro. Pyro could tell that he was thinking of something—likely a reason why Snorunt could not join them, but he wasn't saying anything. Instead, the two had what looked like a staring contest: both were looking at only each other, as though daring the other to be the first to look away. This wasn't normal behavior for Pyro, Will knew, and that in itself seemed to say something to him.

 _What is he thinking…?_ Will wondered. _I don't understand why he thinks that we need this Snorunt on our team… But I also haven't seen him this certain of anything in quite a while._

"I still don't understand why you think we need her on our team," Will said aloud. "But—"

Completely cutting Will off, Pyro turned back towards Snorunt with a broad smile and said, "Perfect! Just tap this button right here!"

Bending down, Pyro grabbed the Pokeball that he had stashed away right after they found Snorunt, grabbed it in his beak, and directed it towards her. Will wasn't sure what Pyro was doing until he saw what it was that he was holding, and by that point, it was too late for him to do anything.

Knowing exactly what Pyro was doing, Snorunt eagerly tapped the button in the center of the Pokeball and was zapped inside in a bright flash of light. Pyro released the capsule into the snow as soon as Snorunt disappeared, allowing the Pokeball to wiggle on the ground as it captured her.

Will, feeling blindsided, could only watch in place as the ball shook. He blinked each of the three times that the ball wiggled, sighing when the button dinged, signifying capture. Will glared at Pyro and asked, "What are you doing!?"

Smiling slightly despite the harsh glare, he replied, "I'm doing what you know is best, whether you admit it or not: expanding our team."

He then bent down and poked the Pokeball's button with one of his talons, releasing Snrount back into the snow. She grinned broadly at Pyro.

"Thanks, Pyro!"

A feminine voice came from Snorunt rather than the androgynous voice humans generally heard when speaking with a Pokemon without a translator. Snorunt then turned towards Will, the same broad grin still across her face.

"I'm happy to join the team," she said, sounding genuine despite the jokester grin she wore.

Will sighed and nodded his head. He opened his mouth to say something but paused, as if taking a second to think. Pyro stared at him expectantly while Snorunt just continued to smile. Will exhaled slowly, and then, after breathing in deeply, finally spoke.

"I'm… willing… to look past our _history_ if—and only if—you work hard," he said. The tension in his shoulders lessened as he continued. "You can have your own goals while we travel—I welcome it actually, since it would give you something to fight for—but I need you to work hard. If you can do that…" Will paused again and swallowed, as though prepping himself for what he was about to say. "Then…I guess I can work with you."

Both Pyro and Snorunt were gleaming when Will finished. They turned to each other and began to bounce excitedly, all the while chanting, "Yay! Yay! Yay!"

Will watched them and rolled his eyes. However, despite the fight he had just put on over this, he didn't outwardly appear disappointed. Will simply watched the two dance around with his usual stoic expression.

After a few more moments of their cheering, Pyro and Snorunt stopped and turned back to Will. Both of them stared at him with determined looks in their eyes.

"I think we're ready to train now," Pyro told Will.

Grinning devilishly and nodding her head, Snorunt said, "I agree. I'm ready to kick some ass."

Will opened his mouth as if to reply, but before he could, Pyro's eyes went wide in realization. He turned towards Snorunt and asked, "Wait! Before we train, we still need to give you a name, Snorunt!"

Her eyes went wide upon hearing that and she nodded her head ferociously in agreement. She bounced right up to Will's height and before either he or Pyro could say anything, a dozen more copies of Snorunt appeared, surrounding Will.

"I want a nickname as well!"

Every Snorunt said the same thing in unison, causing Will to groan. He glared over at Pyro for a moment before facing what he believed to be the original Snorunt right in front of him.

"What do you want to be called?"

As though she hadn't thought that far ahead, Snorunt glanced back towards Pyro, who gave her an encouraging nod. She turned back to face Will again, and after a short pause, Snorunt said, "Dawn. I want to be called Dawn."

Will nodded his head and turned around. He began to walk towards the targets Pyro had been shooting at earlier. Calling back to his now-two teammates, he said, "Let's get to training then. Now that we have another member on the team, I wanna beat Candice as soon as possible."

Pyro and Dawn shared one more grin before they followed behind him, clearly excited about what was to come.

* * *

 **We're almost through with Snowpoint City! Only two chapters left to go! We're almost through the first milestone for TQG, and I'm thrilled. My goal is to have Snowpoint completed before spring semester begins (just under a month from today). The updates started off pretty slow, but they've gotten much faster. I'm also happy to say that my schedule for spring semester looks much easier than fall was, so I hope to continue updating quickly. :)**

 **1\. What is your first impression of Dawn now that she's a member of the team?**

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** _A New Dawn_

With their new teammate, Dawn, alongside them, Will and Pyro decide to go train since they know they need to be stronger to beat Candice. They have a lot of things to learn before they can beat her. Will they be able to learn what they need!?

* * *

 **Strength Arc:**

 **Snowpoint City:**

 **Chapter 8:** _Avoiding the Avalanche!_


	7. A New Dawn

**So, after getting a little bit of training in, Will and Pyro ran into the same snorunt as a few days before, but she was unconscious. After healing her, they learned that she was attacked after another prank had gone wrong. The encounter ended in Snorunt, now known as Dawn, joining the team despite Will's uncertainty about her.**

* * *

 **TheGreat0ne:** It's always nice hearing from you, so no worries if it wasn't right as the chapter was posted. I appreciate it all the same :) Will doesn't forgive a whole lot right now, and that will make more sense as more of his past is revealed. Pyro saving Will from a dumb decision is another thing that will be happening for quite a while. They're good partners. Thanks for the review!

 **Bethechange24 (Guest):** I'm glad that you're enjoying the story so far and that you like Pyro! Thanks for the review!

* * *

 **Will's Team:**

 **-Pyro (Torchic):** _Scratch, Growl, Ember_

 **-Dawn (Snorunt):** _Powder Snow, Double Team, Hail, Ice Shard_

* * *

"Damnit, both of you. You need to focus and stop joking around with each other!"

Later that evening, Will, Pyro, and Dawn were still training. Other than lunch and the occasional break, the three had been working on prepping themselves for their rematch against Candice since that morning. However, Pyro and Dawn tended to stop randomly and just start telling jokes or Dawn would tell Pyro about pranks she was already planning for Will.

Will wasn't having it, though. He was used to having Pyro work hard to get their goal completed. He figured that it would take some time to give that kind of work-ethic instilled in Dawn, but he didn't once think that she would be able to get rid of Pyro's.

"You both have said that you want to get stronger," Will continued, clenching his fists. "But since we've started training, all that either of you have done is anything make jokes and talk about pranks!"

Having been bid-conversation at that point, Pyro and Dawn immediately went silent as soon as Will had begun. Pyro's eyes went wide, but Dawn simply grinned. She knew exactly what she had been doing. She turned back to face Will, losing her smile as she did, and looked right at him innocently.

"Oh, I'm sooooooo sorry," she said, visibly struggling to keep her smile hidden. "I didn't realize that you wanted to train right now." The right end of her barely straight face began to creep upwards as she continued, "I figured that it was time to take a break again."

Will scowled at her and walked towards the two. Pyro still had wide eyes, but Will couldn't tell whether Pyro was surprised about Will being angry or that they were joking off during training. Dawn, however, could no longer hold her neutral expression. Watching how upset she had made Will brought the biggest grin to her face, made worse by her loud laughing.

"WOW!" she exclaimed in between laughs. "You're so pissed off!"

Will's entire body already seemed to be shaking with every step he took, but when he heard that, something snapped.

" _You_ are the one that wanted to join this team!" he shouted, bent down so he could look her in the eyes. "I sure as _hell_ didn't want you to join us, but you did anyways. I knew for a _fucking fact_ that you were going to be nothing but trouble, but _you joined anyways_!"

Will was seething as he went off on her. Pyro watched as though frozen in place. He didn't move a muscle as Will yelled. Dawn, meanwhile, was another story. If Will was an unmovable force in his anger, she was just as powerful. Dawn took his wrath head-on with the smile from before never once fading.

"What the hell do you plan to do if—"

"Easy—kick ass."

Dawn completely shut Will off, ending his speech. She stood proudly, as though she had said something profound, and continued grinning. Will looked slightly taken aback by the surprising interruption, but it didn't faze him for long.

"Do you…" he trailed off, as though uncertain that he heard her correctly. Will, visibly less angry, asked, "Do you seriously think you can just "kick ass" in fights?"

Dawn nodded her head in response, cueing Will to shout, "Then you're either as much of a careless liability as I thought, or you're plain stupid!"

Without a moment's hesitation, she shot back, "You're too rigid. Your obsession with strength is more of a liability than I could ever be. Learn to have some fun every once in a while, or you're going to regret it someday, whether you're the strongest or not."

The unexpected wisdom hit Will like a sucker punch. His eyes went wide, and he was as still as a statue. Dawn's grin grew when she saw how hard her words had hit. Pyro was surprised by the effect as well. Will wasn't normally one to reveal his emotions, but Dawn had played him perfectly.

"I…" he began to say, trailing off. He blinked a few times and tried to say something, but again, he couldn't figure out how to voice his thoughts. He instead clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles went white.

After a few more moments of tense silence, Will finally said, "I'm heading on a walk. I'll be back in an hour or so. We need to train then, but go ahead and…take a break, I guess."

Dawn air punched with her tiny spherical hand, clearly pleased with her 'victory.' Pyro, however, shook his head a few times rapidly, blinked a couple of times, and jogged over towards Will, whom had already begun walking off towards the forest behind them.

Just before he made it past the tree line, where he'd be out of the view of Pyro and Dawn, Will was stopped by his partner.

"Will," Pyro called out, stopping him. Before Will ever turned around, Pyro asked, "Just give her a chance please."

He gave a pleading look as Will turned around and nervously scratched at the ground with his claws. Pyro was expecting a glare, but instead, Will simply bore a blank expression. He took a few moments to process what Pyro had said, then slowly nodded.

Though he was uncertain as to what happened in the past sixty seconds, Pyro decided to try and push his luck. "You might think she's annoying—and I can't say I completely disagree," he said. "But she's strong, wants to get stronger, and has the potential to be a great teammate."

Will continued to walk away from the clearing into the woods, but before he left, he said, to Pyro's great surprise, "I know."

With that, the pokemon could do nothing but stand frozen, wondering if he heard anything Will had said in the past thirty seconds correctly.

* * *

"That damn snorunt…" Will muttered, kicking at a small snow-covered bush.

He was walking through the forest with his hands at his sides, tightly clenched into fists. It had been about ten minutes since he had left Pyro and Dawn, and while he was no longer as furious as he was in the moment, he was still angry.

"She doesn't understand anything," he continued. "She doesn't even want to be a part of the damn team; she just wants easy targets for pranks."

Even as he said it, though, Will knew what he said wasn't true. She was genuinely happy to join the team earlier, and he knew it.

"Doesn't mean that she is going to do us any good, though," he said, as though debating himself.

Will shook his head and sighed. He saw a nearby tree stump, and after walking towards it and wiping off the snow, took a seat on it. Finally off of his feet for the first time since they had left Snowpoint that morning, Will could feel some of the stress leave his body.

Sighing once more, this time in relief, he thought more about his interactions with Dawn that day. The first thing to pop into his mind was what she had said right before he left.

" _ **Learn to have some fun every once in a while, or you're going to regret it someday, whether you're the strongest or not."**_

 _Regret what?_ Will thought. _Being so strong that I can stop anyone from hurting innocent people again._

He barked out a laugh at that, though there was no humor in it. Will rolled his eyes, thinking, _What does she know about strength anyways? She might be stronger than the average snorunt around here, but that doesn't make her an expert in anything._

However, once again, Will's thoughts proved him wrong. Candice's words from the day before rang back through his mind.

" _ **I'm serious, Will. You need to realize that there is so much more to life, to a Pokemon League journey, than just being strong."**_

He could only sigh at that memory. He could reason with himself that Dawn was no expert, but saying the same about Candice was impossible.

 _She's always been there for me_ , Will thought, thinking about Candice. _Ever since we moved to Snowpoint, Candice has been helping me become better and better. I guess that means that…_

Will groaned at the thought. He looked up into the sky and asked, "There's no way Dawn's actually right, is there?"

The sky had no answer for Will, which didn't surprise him. What did, though, was the fact that in his heart, he already knew the answer.

And he didn't like it.

 _This doesn't make any sense at all…_ Will stood up and walked back in the direction the clearing where Pyro and Dawn were but stopped after only a few steps. All of a sudden, Will slammed both of his hands against the sides of his head, and said aloud, "This doesn't make any sense!"

Will sighed again, his mood quickly changing again. The frustration was still there, but even he wasn't completely sure what he was feeling anymore.

 _I…I just need to focus on training_ , he thought. _I need to focus on the job at hand, and think about this later._

Feeling slightly better at that thought, he continued, _This doesn't matter anyways. So long as we're the strongest there is, who cares if it's right or not? No one will be able to hurt us again, and that's what matters._

The doubts from before were still there, but Will had pushed them deeper away, not coming to terms with any of them. Instead, he slowly inhaled, closing his eyes as he did so. Then, just as methodically, he exhaled, opening his eyes once more.

 _I'll figure out whatever the hell this is once we're stronger_ , Will thought, as though reasoning with himself. _But…this needs to come first._

Right or wrong, Will decided to head back to Pyro and Dawn. They needed to train if they were ever going to have a chance at defeating Candice. If they couldn't beat her, then they had no way of becoming the strongest. Will began the walk back to the clearing, more confused than he had been before his walk.

* * *

"Will, you're back!"

Pyro cheered at the sight of his partner coming out of the forest after nearly precisely an hour since he left. Dawn, spotting him after Pyro's cry, grinned at the sight of him. Will simply nodded his head at them as a greeting before making his way to them.

"Let's get to training then," he said, not looking at either of them. "I still want us to battle Candice tomorrow, so we need to be ready."

Pyro eagerly nodded his head as he stood balanced on his right leg, the left curled up facing behind him. Dawn, the one Will expected to argue, simply nodded her head as well, though she was still grinning. Will didn't know exactly what to think about that, but he was just glad that she wasn't fighting him again for now.

Without another word, the two went to get back to training. Pyro went one way, and Dawn the other, both appearing calm and focused. Will watched and had to fight the urge to raise an eyebrow at Dawn. This amount of concentration on her face seemed so out of character for her, but she went over to the same part of the clearing as before, seemingly ready to work.

Without another word, Pyro fired off his first barrage of fireballs at the piles of sticks they had gathered earlier. Will watched it only out of the corner of his eye, instead focusing his attention on Dawn. She, meanwhile, was still standing still, and she had her eyes shut.

Will waited a few moments, expecting to see something at any moment. After almost twenty seconds of nothing, though, he was getting annoyed. Will opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Dawn floated up into the air. A cyclone of hailstones appeared out of thin air around her.

Will's eyes instantly went wide, and he unconsciously took a step backwards. The fact that all of this had appeared so suddenly left his mouth agape.

 _What power…_ Will thought, still in shock. Shaking his head, Will's eyes gleamed as he thought, _Maybe having her on the team won't be as bad as I thought._

Just as Will was thoroughly impressed, though, the hailstorm disappeared entirely. In no more time than it took for Will to blink, Dawn was back on the ground, face first in the snow.

A few seconds after she landed, Dawn jumped back onto her feet and shook off the snow. She was blushing, and as soon as she noticed Will was staring at her, Dawn turned around. Then, in one swift moment, she sat back down on the ground and calling back to Will, said, "I'm done training now."

Will, dumbfounded, said nothing for a few moments, processing everything that had just happened. Eventually, he realized that Pyro was still training, somehow not noticing any of what had just happened, and Dawn was only sitting on the ground, finished after one mistake.

His neutral expression shifted into a glare as Will angrily asked, "Did you just give up after one mess up!? Are you kidding me?"

The only sound to be heard after that was the thudding of fireballs against Pyro's target. Will was just glaring at the back of Dawn, unable to see her reaction. She sat quietly, seemingly unfazed by Will's anger. However, what Will couldn't see was the fact that Dawn was just watching Pyro, completely focused on him as he trained.

Somehow, he still was clueless as to what was going on between Will and Dawn. His attention was set on training, and it didn't seem like anything was going to be able to interrupt that. The level of focus he had seemed unreal to Dawn, and that captivated her.

"Did you even hear me!?"

Will, frustrated with the lack of response, had walked up right behind Dawn. He looked down, and after his latest outburst, noticed that her focus wasn't on him at all. He was about to yell again, but just before he did, Will noticed what she was staring at.

Will took a few moments to think before bending down next to Dawn and watching Pyro as well. Only then did she snap out of her thoughts and notice him. Her eyes went wide, and she opened her mouth to say something, but before she did, Will interrupted her, surprising her with his calm tone.

"We could both learn a thing or two from him, you know?"

Dawn's shock grew even more when she heard that, because it was the last thing she was expecting Will to say. She was yet to hear him use such a casual tone, let alone with her. So, after a short pause to digest what he had said, Dawn simply nodded her head.

Spotting the reaction, Will continued, saying, "He's always had a great work ethic. If Pyro puts his mind to something, there's very little that can stop him."

Just then, Pyro, whom had still been firing off barrage after barrage of Embers as they spoke, missed his first shot of the set. A few stray fireballs landed in a pile of snow next to his targets, instantly vaporizing the snow and disappearing. Pyro paused for a moment and sighed at the sight of his first miss. However, he quickly recovered, nodding his head determinedly, and started again.

"He doesn't let one mistake define him; he just keeps trying."

Will was looking straight at Dawn at that point. She turned to face him and met his gaze as she thought about what he said. Will wasn't completely certain what was going through her mind, but after seeing her stand back up and go back to training without another word, he was confident that he knew.

Will stood up and walked back towards his spot at the edge of the clearing. The smallest of smiles seemed to be forming, but any trace of it disappeared by the time he turned back around to watch his teammates train.

Only moments after she started again, another vortex of hailstones surrounded Dawn, and Will couldn't help but still be impressed. The amount of raw power she had was going to take some getting used to.

* * *

"Good job, both of you. You've definitely improved quite a bit."

Will was standing in front of Pyro and Dawn, both of whom were sweating, despite the cold. They grinned broadly when Will said that, both looking ecstatic.

"Thanks!" they replied in unison.

Will couldn't help but shake his head in response. The two had only been teammates since that morning, but they acted as though they'd been friends for their entire lives.

Will bent down to grab his backpack as he said, "Let's get going then. The sooner we get back to Snowpoint, the sooner we can get some dinner at the center."

There was no need to say anything else, because as soon as the two pokemon heard the word dinner, they had already begun running towards the path. Rolling his eyes, Will said nothing as the two began to laugh at something Dawn had said mid-run.

 _There certainly won't ever be a dull moment with these two together_ , Will thought.

With that in mind, he began to walk towards the path himself, a fair distance behind his teammates, which was alright with him. Will had no intention of catching up to them and chatting as they walked back to the city. Pyro and Dawn, meanwhile, never seemed to have a quiet moment, the two trying to get to know each other better now that they were teammates.

"So, you've just always lived around Lake Acuity?" Pyro asked, glancing over to his friend.

Nodding her head, Dawn said, "Yeah, I was born here with a decently-large group of snorunt, but eventually, I just decided that I wanted to go off on my own. They were kinda boring honestly."

Pyro chuckled at that, ruffling his feathers a bit as he did. "They definitely don't sound like your kind of pokemon then."

Joining him in the laughter, Dawn said, "Yeah, they were a bunch of fuddy-duddies that didn't like my pranks." She paused for a bit there and glanced back towards Will, whom was about fifty feet behind them by that point—well out of earshot. "Not a lot unlike our friend back there, but even worse than him."

Pyro, no longer laughing at that, made a face. "He's not so bad."

Dawn shrugged as she walked, replying, "I mean, he definitely seemed a little better after that little walk of his, but he just seems like a loner that doesn't wanna have any fun to me."

Pyro stopped walking entirely when he heard that. He opened his beak to defend his best friend, but after a short hesitation, he said nothing.

"You didn't know him when he was younger like I did," Pyro said finally after another moment. "He used to actually be a lot like you—always laughing and joking."

Dawn, a little bit ahead of Pyro at that point, stopped and turned around to face him. Her face seemed to define incredulous as she frowned and planted her feet firmly in the snow.

"Just how long have you two known each other?" she asked. "I dunno that I can believe he's changed this much in only a few months…or even a few years."

Pyro, after a short pause to think, replied, "Almost nine years now."

Dawn's eyes went wide when she heard that. "Nine years?" she asked in shock. "I haven't even been alive that long!"

Pyro simply nodded his head at that, his neutral expression mimicking Will's own. He glanced back casually and after spotting Will was closing the distance between them, motioned for Dawn to continue walking with him. After being silent for about a minute of walking, Pyro continued his explanation after feeling confident Will was definitely out of earshot.

"Before we lived in Snowpoint City, Will and our parents were the only family their age in a small town called Littleroot Town," he said, Dawn silent as he spoke. "Everyone else there was even older than Mom and Dad are now with their kids already moved out."

"So, because Will was only seven years old," he explained. "He was a pretty lonely kid with no one to play with other than adults."

Dawn nodded her head at that, though still silent. She seemed to understand what Will went through, but said nothing so Pyro would continue.

"Having no other kids to play with and no pokemon in our family—Mom and Dad never captured any still to this day—Will just played alone or with adults. It wasn't a big deal when he was younger, because he didn't know any better. By the time he was seven years old, though, he wanted someone else his age to play with."

This time, it was Dawn that glanced back at Will. Her expression was indistinguishable for Pyro, but she was staring straight at Will intently. Will seemed to be in his own world so he didn't notice Dawn's staring, but Pyro did. After a few seconds, she faced forward again, which told Pyro he could continue with his story.

"At this point, Mom and Dad thought maybe a pokemon would make a good friend for Will," he said, smiling fondly at the memory. "So, Dad went to his friend and neighbor since childhood, Professor Birch, a pokemon researcher, and asked if he had any pokemon that Will could have to play with."

"This was a few months before translators were completed," Pyro explained. "So, no one had asked me if I wanted to go with Will, but as I was only about a year old at that point, I was more than happy to have someone to play with myself."

Not even realizing it, Pyro had stopped talking at that point and was just remembering the day he and Will had met. He was smiling as widely as he could, and Dawn made no motion to interrupt.

After a few more moments of going down memory lane, Pyro finally remembered where he was, and after a quick shake of his head, he continued, saying, "Will and I instantly became best friends, and we did everything together: eating, sleeping, playing—you name it."

"However," Pyro said. "Professor Birch was very firm in telling us that under no circumstances can we try to participate in any league-sanctioned events like gym battles or tournaments until Will got his trainer's license. If we did, we could get in a lot of trouble. Even just battling other people could have potentially gotten us sanctioned. That didn't bother us too much, though, because we just wanted to play, not fight."

Pyro sighed after he said that, however. The happy memory seemed to change entirely. He didn't seem to want to get into it, though, and Dawn didn't push it.

They walked in silence for a bit after that. Pyro and Will—whom was still behind the pokemon a ways—were both lost in thought, but for Pyro, he seemed to be reliving less-than-fond memories at that point. Dawn, noticing that, tried to change the subject.

"Hey, Pyro," she said, grabbing his attention.

He snapped out of his reverie when he heard his name and blinked a few times. After that, Pyro turned towards Dawn, and with a small smile back on his face, he asked, "What's up?"

She paused for a minute, as though thinking about what she was going to say. When she was sure, Dawn asked, "When Will said that I was strong and was wasting my potential, did he mean it?" Then, before he could ever respond, she added, "Does he really think I can be strong?"

Pyro nodded his head at that, but despite Dawn's efforts to change his mood with what she thought was a light question, his grim expression returned.

"Will doesn't say things that he doesn't mean anymore." The edge of Snowpoint City finally came into view right after Pyro spoke, so rather than continue with their discussion, he said, "Let's wait here for Will, then we'll head back to the pokemon center for dinner."

Dawn nodded her head in response. Before that moment, she didn't realize how much depth her two new teammates had, but now that she knew, she couldn't help but smile. Pyro wasn't sure what it was about, but when he saw it, he had to mimic it.

"Tomorrow," he began, his tone determined. "We're going to beat the Snowpoint Gym, and we'll prove to everyone how strong we are."

Dawn's smile somehow grew even wider at that.

"Let's kick some ass."

* * *

 **Only one chapter is left for Snowpoint City! I hope you're all as excited as I am to move on to the next city! The first half of the Eterna City segment of the Strength Arc is below!**

 **I actually already have chapter 8 finished, so I'll post it within a few days after proofreading it some more. It might sound selfish, but I'd also like to see at least a review or two on this chapter before I post it. :)**

 **On a smaller note, as you might have noticed, I'm trying out not capitalizing the different species of pokemon. I'm still not certain how I feel about it, but I wanted to give it a shot. I'll probably either change back or decide to keep it like this after the next chapter. However, I don't plan to change the first six chapters or, if I decide to change back, these two chapters because I want to show the progressions that I have taken as a writer :) Thanks for understanding!**

 **1\. What are your thoughts on Will's character progression up to this point?**

 **2\. Do you like the Will/Dawn relationship so far?**

 **3\. Do you like the Pyro/Dawn relationship so far?**

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** _Avoiding the Avalanche!_

With their new teammate, Dawn, alongside them, Will and Pyro decide to go train since they know they need to be stronger to beat Candice. They have a lot of things to learn before they can beat her. Will they be able to learn what they need!?

* * *

 **Strength Arc:**

 **Eterna City:**

 **Chapter 9:** _A Frosty Rematch!_

 **Chapter 10:** _He's Back!_

 **Chapter 11:** _Lesson Two_

 **Chapter 12:** _Experiential Learning_

 **Chapter 13:** _Crossing Through Coronet!_

 **Chapter 14:** _Doom, Gloom, and Demise!_


	8. Avoiding the Avalanche!

**After a bit of a rough start with training, Will and Dawn began to argue, though it didn't last long. After being hit with some unexpected wisdom from Dawn, Will gave her and Pyro a break while he went on a walk. Will thought about what Dawn and Candice had told him, but he didn't seem to care much. After meeting back up with Pyro and Dawn, they did some training before heading back to Snowpoint, with Pyro explaining to Dawn a bit about his and Will's pasts.**

* * *

 **Will's Team:**

 **-Pyro (Torchic):** _Scratch, Growl, Ember_

 **-Dawn (Snorunt):** _Powder Snow, Double Team, Hail, Ice Shard_

* * *

"Candice!"

Will's voice rang out through the seemingly-empty gym as he stood with Pyro by his side at the entrance to the gym. As though she had been waiting, Candice stepped out from inside a side room on the opposite side of the battlefield, smiling welcomingly at the duo. However, despite both the smile and the distance, there was no mistaking the fierce expression in her eyes. Will, walking forward to meet her, kept his expression neutral.

"We're ready for our rematch," he said, his gaze locked onto hers. "We have another teammate now, and between her and Pyro, I have no doubt that we'll beat you and your team."

Candice stood silently just off the side of the battlefield as Will walked towards her. Even in only two days, she could tell that he had grown. For her, the only two questions left to be answered were how much and whether or not it would be enough.

"Confidence is always a good thing," she said finally, when Will and Pyro arrived in front of her. "I'm looking forward to a good battle, but I want you to know that my pokemon and I will not take it easy on you."

Not faltering for a moment, Will replied, "I wouldn't expect—nor want—anything less."

The simple response clearly wasn't surprising to Candice, who only nodded her head in response before turning to her left and walking away. Will, knowing what was coming, faced the opposite direction and walked towards his trainer box.

Stepping on to the battlefield, seemingly from nowhere, came Marvin, Candice's newest referee. Dressed in his white and black uniform, he pulled two flags from his behind his back, one green and one red, as he cleared his throat. Will glanced over his shoulder when he heard the coughing sound and rolled his eyes when he saw where it came from.

Immediately upon Will and Candice arriving in their respective trainer boxes, Marvin announced, "This will be the rematch between our esteemed Snowpoint City Gym Leader, Lady Candice, and the challenger, Will Knight of Snowpoint City. This will be a two versus two battle since the challenger has finally captured another pokemon—"

"Marvin!" Candice interrupted chidingly. She gave the battle judge a scolding glare, which caused Marvin to sigh.

Collecting himself, he continued, saying, "This will be a two versus two battle. When one side's team is no longer able to battle, the fight is over. Battlers, please release your first pokemon!"

Locking eyes, Will and Candice each gave the other a nod, wishing each other luck. Candice reached to her pokeball belt and grabbed one of the spheres as Will looked down towards Pyro. In sync, Candice tossed her pokeball as Will nodded his head to his partner.

Pyro dashed forwards as a bright light enveloped the field, releasing Swinub from his pokeball. Neither side seemed surprised by the other's pick. Candice grinned when she saw Pyro run towards from the trainer box, and the right side of Will's mouth rose into the smallest of grins as well.

"I was hoping we'd be getting a proper rematch," Candice said. "It's only right that these two duke it out again." After a short pause, her grin shaped into more of a smirk as she said, "Though it'll end in the same way as last time."

Not taking the bait, Will calmly replied, "I think you might be surprised."

Leaving it at that, he glanced over towards Marvin. Candice did the same, nodding her head when she locked eyes with the battle judge to let him know that they were ready to begin.

Wasting no time, he announced, "The first battle will, once again, be between Lady Candice and her swinub and the challenger and his torchic." Just like the last battle, Candice rolled her eyes annoyedly. "Let the battle begin!"

Will was quick to take the first move, saying, "Growl!"

Starting off with a different strategy than last time, Pyro opened his beak widely and let out a piercing growl that distorted the air between himself and Swinub, lowering his defenses. Candice raised her right eyebrow as she watched the attack, seemingly surprised by the change of pace from their last battle. However, it didn't faze her in the slightest.

"Mud-Slap," she said, her tone still casual.

Unworried about the lowered defense, Swinub hoped into the air and spun around, preparing a move that Will had certainly not forgotten. As he spun, Swinub once again glowed with a brown aura, and as he fell back towards the ground, a half dozen globs of mud appeared around him.

The globs instantly shot towards Pyro, who still had not moved from his place. They crossed the battlefield at high speeds, but even as they passed the halfway mark, Pyro didn't move. Instead, he took a deep breath in and exhaled just as slowly.

When they were only feet away, Will called, "Dodge and counter with Growl!"

The six globs of mud rocketed down towards him at the same time, but Pyro, waiting until the last possible moment, slid forwards, embracing his short stature. Gliding across the battlefield, Pyro dodged the onslaught entirely. Not wasting any time, he then leapt back up to his feet and released another loud growl, distorting the air between them once more.

"Scratch!" Will ordered immediately after.

Attempting to make use of Swinub's lowered defense, Pyro dashed forward, the talons on his feet glowing white as he ran. Quickly closing the distance between them, Pyro leaped into the air to get the high ground. However, Candice was quick to counter.

"Mud Sport," she said, still aloof.

Swinub bounced into the air again, but unlike with Mud-Slap, he just plopped right back down onto the battlefield. As soon as he did, a puddle of mud appeared around him. However, unlike their last battle when it was used to make a shell around him, the mud surged forwards and formed into a four-feet high wall right in front of Pyro.

Pyro, with all of his momentum from shooting through the air, had no way to avoid crashing into the wall Swinub had made. He slammed right into it, dazing him slightly as he fell to the earth. The wall then disappeared entirely, allowing Pyro to see Swinub flying at him.

"Tackle."

Having leaped towards Pyro as soon as he brought down the wall, Swinub rocketed himself downwards, colliding with Pyro. He was slammed into the ground once more, unable to dodge due to how quick the attack had come. Swinub didn't push too far, though. To prevent a counter-attack, he dashed back from Pyro to his place in front of Candice.

Will glared at the well-done maneuver. Even looking back at it, he wasn't sure what they could've done to stop it. He didn't let that bother him, though. The battle was still far from over.

"Ember!"

Pyro snapped out of his daze and opened his beak widely, inhaling as he did. After their training the day before, he felt much more confident, but it was time to see if the work he'd done would translate into results.

As he exhaled, Pyro shot off a barrage of red-hot fireballs across the battlefield, larger than they had been in their last battle. Still being on the half on Candice's side, it didn't take long for the fireballs to make it to Swinub. However, the ice-type didn't seem worried by the super-effective attack in the slightest.

"Powder Snow!" Candice said, a new glint in her eyes after seeing the newly improved Ember.

Almost instantly, a stream of cold wind and snowballs show forth from Swinub's opened mouth, countering Pyro's Ember. Despite the type advantage, though, the two attacks simply negated each other, even making a decent amount of steam appear around them.

Will's side of the battlefield was clear, but because both pokemon were on Candice's side, her side was almost entirely covered in it. Will didn't appear concerned, though, saying nothing as though he was just going to wait for the steam to dissipate. Candice, however, had another idea.

"Mud-Slap!" she shouted, pointing forward with her right fist.

Will couldn't see through the steam, but a moment later, he could hear volley after volley of mud blobs slamming down onto the battlefield, most likely right where Pyro had been standing. The barrage continued for nearly ten seconds, during which Will never called a counter-attack. The steam was beginning to dissipate, but even as it did, the stream of mud never shifted in direction.

"Don't feel like doing anything right now, Will?" she asked, just as it sounded like the Mud-Slap barrage ended.

Will waited a moment to answer, watching as the steam dissipated more and more. When it began to get to the point where it was almost see-through again, he said, "Well, we saw how the long-range fight went last time. We couldn't compete with you and Swinub, so we figured that we would need some way of making sure we win in a short-range fight!"

Candice's eyes went wide at that. She realized what had happened just as the steam dissipated entirely, making it too late.

"Scratch!" Will shouted.

Completely visible again, Pyro was standing almost right behind Swinub. At some point while the steam had blocked their views, Pyro snuck behind his opponent. He couldn't see where he was, but because of the Mud-Slap barrage, he could hear him.

With their trap set perfectly, Pyro needed to only lunge forward a few feet. He slashed at Swinub's open back, landing a powerful hit on him. Having lowered his defense twice, Will and Pyro knew that this would do a lot of damage.

Meanwhile, Candice could do nothing but watch as she got played, her eyes wide. A regular trainer would have been disappointed, maybe even angry, but as a gym leader, Candice couldn't help but be impressed.

"Ember!"

"Mud Sport!"

From his spot right above his target, Pyro unleashed another round of Ember at Swinub. However, at the same time a puddle of mud began to form around Swinub. It began to cloak him in the hardened mud, but before it could fully form, the fireballs smacked into him repeatedly.

Unlike their last battle where the Mud Sport had entirely blocked the Ember, the semi-hardened mud cracked as it was struck, leaving Swinub defenseless once more. He was smacked by the barrage without pause, taking a lot of damage from the super-effective attack.

"What was it you said last time, Candice?" Will asked casually as Swinub continued to get hit. "It blocked _weak_ fire type attacks? Sorry, Pyro doesn't have any of those."

Candice, again, couldn't help but be impressed by how well Will was controlling the battle. Even from the beginning, he knew that it was going to need to be a close-quarters battle, so he had Pyro lower Swinub's defense. He then used her arrogance against her in the steam cloud to lay a perfect trap.

No matter how much what he'd done impressed her, though, Candice wasn't going to let him just keep attacking her partner so easily.

"Keep going with Ember!" Will shouted. "Remember how hard you trained for this!"

Pyro, who had been wavering during his attack, was visibly growing tired with the continued assault. However, the reminder of the amount of work he had done to prepare himself for this moment brought it all home for Pyro. His attack grew in strength and speed, leaving Swinub to do nothing but squirm from the barrage.

"You've gotta get outta there, bud!" Candice called towards him. "Try another Mud-Slap!"

Swinub began to glow with a brown aura once more, but before he could release his attack, Will yelled out, "Stop him with Scratch!"

Ending his assault with Ember, Pyro slashed down once more with his talons, ending Swinub's attack before it could even truly begin. The one hit, after the onslaught of Ember and his defense being lowered, was all it took to finish off Swinub.

He fell limply to the ground, unconscious. At the same time, Pyro got off of his back, leaving him to rest. Pyro was sweating a storm, visibly exhausted after the long rematch.

"In a surprising change from the last battle," Marvin said, his eyes wide. "Lady Candice's swinub is no longer able to battle, meaning Will's torchic wins!" He shook his head quickly, though, and looked to the gym leader. "Lady Candice, please release your next pokemon."

"Good job there, Will," she said as she recalled Swinub to his pokeball. She placed it back on her belt and grabbed another capsule. "You and Pyro have improved a lot. However, I think my next friend is more than capable of taking you on!"

She tossed the pokeball into the air, and in a bright flash of red, a small, pink baby-like pokemon appeared, causing Candice to grin.

"Let's show them what we can really do, Smoochum!" she cheered.

She looked over towards Marvin after that and nodded her head. Seeing that, he turned to Will.

"Will you continue with your torchic, or will you be substituting?" he asked.

Glaring slightly, Will nodded his head, saying, "Pyro will be coming back, so our next teammate, Dawn, can battle."

He stressed Pyro's and Dawn's names as he grabbed the only other pokeball off of his belt. Pyro walked towards Will, covered in sweat and mud, and sat down on the ground next to him. As he did, Will tossed the pokeball in his hand into the air, which opened midair to release Dawn in another flash of red.

"Let's go!" she said cheerfully as she appeared.

She glanced back at Will and Pyro. The former simply nodded his head, while the latter grinned wildly, despite his injuries. Dawn's eyes went wide when she saw how hurt Pyro looked, but didn't seem fazed. She shook her head and then refocused on the task at hand.

"The second battle will be between Lady Candice and her smoochum and the challenger and his snorunt," Marvin said. "Let the battle begin!"

Wasting no time, Candice shouted, "Confusion!"

Dawn watched as Smoochum held her hands out in front of her. In between them, a sphere of purple energy appeared. Before she could even think about it, Smoochum had already launched it forwards, pushing it with her mind. Dawn seemed a little worried as the attack came towards her, but stood strong.

"Block it with Ice Shard!" Will said as a counter.

Dawn exhaled a breath that she didn't even know she was holding as she charged up five blue spheres around her. After a moment, the orbs froze and formed sharp points. With a simple punch forward, Dawn launched them all forwards at high speeds.

The ice spears shot through the Confusion, dispelling it. The sight of her opponent's attack disappearing brought a devious smile to Dawn's face, a sign of her growing confidence.

"Powder Snow!" Will yelled, hoping to keep their momentum.

Dawn zipped forward as a blue aura appeared around her. After a couple of seconds of running, the blue aura around her was already growing brightly, so as soon as she made it to the center of the field, Dawn began to spin around like a top. As she did, a wave of cold air grew around her with different-sized snowballs as well.

With another punch towards Smoochum, Dawn stopped her spinning and directed the storm she'd created to her opponent. It looked powerful, but neither Candice nor Smoochum seemed concerned. They didn't even try to dodge.

Smoochum took the attack head-on without flinching, surprising Will. Even with the type disadvantage both sides had with ice versus ice, he figured it would de decent damage. Before he could think any further, though, Smoochum's eyes began to glow blue.

"Avalanche!" Candice yelled.

Smoochum held her arms into the air, appearing as though she was praying to some higher power. As soon as she did this, a blue orb appeared above Dawn. Her eyes went wide as she saw the orb above her head that continued to grow, so she dashed backwards, back to Will.

However, the attack followed her, and in one swift moment, an avalanche of snowy rocks and ice fell down onto Dawn. The sheer weight of the attack piled down upon her, smashing her against the battlefield. For a moment, Dawn was nowhere to be seen, buried beneath the snow and gravel.

Within another few seconds, though, the gravel disappeared entirely, back to wherever Smoochum had summoned it from. Left behind was a worse-for-wear Dawn. Despite it being only one attack, Will knew that Avalanche could do a lot of damage if the user had just been hit.

Gritting his teeth, Will could do nothing but watch as Dawn shakily stood back up. He was a little concerned by how weak she was looking, but Dawn, as though she was expecting the response, glanced back towards Will and Pyro. She gave them a grin, despite the pain.

"How about we get this going again?" Candice asked with a grin. "Pound!"

Dashing forward, Smoochum's right fist glowed white. She quickly passed the center line, pushing onto the second half of the field. Dawn, who had been taking a moment to regain her breath, dashed forward to meet her foe.

"Meet her with another Ice Shard!" Will countered.

Once again, Dawn charged up a blue aura, that glowed brighter as she pushed forward, going to meet Smoochum. The two looked as though they were set to collide, Smoouchum rearing to deck Dawn, as the latter continued to charge her Ice Shard.

Just before they met in the middle, however, Dawn used her superior speed to dance around Smoochum. Now right behind her, Dawn released her Ice Shard. Another five ice spears shot into Smoochum's back, knocking her down to her knees.

The damage from that attack showed much more than the Powder Snow did, but it still was nowhere near enough to take Smoochum out. What it did mean, though, was that even more damage was potentially coming, and not from Dawn.

"Avalanche!" Candice shouted in retaliation.

Without a single moment's hesitation, Smoochum rose back to her feet, eyes glowing brightly, and began to craft another orb in the sky above Dawn. Knowing just how much damage this could deal, Dawn began to dart around.

"Keep moving!" Will yelled. "Don't let them get a lock on you!"

Nodding her head, Dawn dashed from place to place, just hoping to avoid the massive Avalanche that was soon to come. Just then, the dam broke, and another load of snowy gravel and ice fell from above. Unlike last time, though, Dawn had almost successfully dodged. The heavy load hit her right side, grazing her, but it wasn't enough to pin her down again.

For a short time, neither Dawn nor Smoochum moved. They both just stood in front of their respective trainer, breathing heavily. Dawn was beaten down, with several contusions, and even from one glance, both Will and Candice knew that she could not take another Avalanche. Smoochum looked much better off than her foe, but she was still breathing hard.

 _How can we still do this?_ Will thought. _Dawn is only one good hit away from being taken out._

He unconsciously glanced down towards Pyro, noticing just how tired he was after his battle with Swinub.

 _He's still exhausted. He took a lot of damage there, and one good Avalanche would probably do him in as well._

Will had to fight the urge to sigh, to reveal how hopeless he felt.

 _We're not strong enough yet. We need to be stronger. We—_

Interrupting his own thoughts, a memory popped into the forefront of Will's mind.

" _ **You're too rigid. Your obsession with strength is more of a liability than I could ever be."**_

As though she knew what he was thinking about, Dawn turned around towards Will and nodded at him. Whether it was her way of reassuring him that she could do it, or she somehow knew he was thinking about what she said, he didn't know. All that Will knew was that it was all the encouragement he needed.

 _We can do this. We_ _ **are**_ _strong, but what's more important…_ Will swallowed, seemingly scared to even think it, something contrary to the belief that he's held for almost half of his life. _What's more important is that we trust each other._ _We can do this! We—_

"Sorry to interrupt your thoughts, Will, but we're having a battle here!" Candice called, snapping him out of his reverie. "Confusion, Smoochum!"

Utilizing her dual type capabilities, Smoochum charged up another Confusion. She held her stubby arms out in front of her and began to charge up a psychic orb. It grew quickly, and within seconds, she fired it off towards Dawn, who still stood right in front of Will.

"Block it with Hail!"

It was a weird command, but Will spoke confidently. Dawn eyes began to glow blue as soon as Will finished speaking, and the temperature in the gym, despite being inside, began to cool.

Right as the Confusion crossed the midpoint of the battlefield, a terrific hailstorm appeared out of nowhere with hailstones ranging in size from marbles to tennis balls. The storm wasn't wild, though. Dawn had it under her complete control and directed all of it to the oncoming attack. The Confusion collided with the hailstorm, and with the sheer number of hailstones, the storm surrounded the attack entirely, dispelling it.

Will's eyes went wide when he saw that, a new idea popping into his mind. It wasn't something they'd tested, so Dawn wouldn't know what to do in advance.

 _I hope this works…_

"Ice Shard one more time, Dawn!" Will called. "Trust me; I know how we can win this."

Dawn began charging up her attack without any hesitation. Ice Shard hadn't been working before, but if Dawn had any doubts in Will's plan—one that she didn't even know, she wasn't showing them.

Candice and Smoochum didn't seem as confident, though. They were more than willing to let Smoochum take another Ice Shard, knowing full well that it wouldn't do enough damage to take her out and that it would power her up.

Dawn fired off another set of ice spears at Smoochum, and while they didn't do enough to finish her, Smoochum still took some damage.

"Doesn't seem like you're learning, Will!" Candice shouted. "Avalanche!"

Summoning another blue orb in the air, Smoochum called down another Avalanche onto Dawn. However, just as it began to crash down, Will took the next step in his plan, the one that would make it or break it for Dawn's chances of winning.

"Double Team!"

Dawn's eyes went wide upon hearing that, finally knowing exactly what the plan was. Two dozen copies of her appeared across the battlefield, and no one but Dawn knew which was the real one.

The shock on both Candice's and Smoochum's faces were enough to make every copy laugh, and even Will had a ghost of a smile flitter across his face. Smoochum didn't know which one to attack, so she took a guess and fired at where the original copy was, only to bring the Avalanche down onto a fake that faded the moment it was struck.

Dawn, now in the clear, was ready to end it.

"Powder Snow!" Will shouted, the tone of finality in his voice evident to all.

Every copy of her unleashed a Powder Snow. Smoochum still didn't know which copy was the real Dawn, so she didn't know which was the real attack coming. Without knowing which beam to dodge, Smoochum had no chance. She was slammed by all of them. All but one beam disappeared the second it made contact with her, but the one hit was enough to finish Smoochum.

She was knocked back towards Candice, unconscious. Her eyes went wide at the sight for a moment, but she recomposed herself quickly. Candice grabbed Smoochum's pokeball, recalled her, and sighed. However, she still couldn't help but smile.

"With neither of Lady Candice's pokemon able to continue battling, Will Knight of Snowpoint City wins the battle."

Marvin spoke dryly, glaring at Will, as though furious he had the gall to defeat Candice. The gym leader in question, however, was smiling broadly, despite having lost.

"Great job, Will!" she said, looking directly at him. Then, looking down to Dawn, who still stood in the center of the battlefield breathing heavily, she said, "You were fantastic out there, Dawn! You as well, Pyro!"

She looked over towards the still-exhausted torchic, who had stood despite weariness to cheer for his teammate. All three smiled in response, though Will's was much smaller than Pyro's or Dawn's.

"Thank you, Candice," Will said as he began to walk across the battlefield.

Moving to meet him halfway, Candice grabbed a small piece of metal out of her pocket as she walked. When they arrived at the center, Candice immediately handed Will her badge.

"Congratulation, to all three of you," she said. "You all more than deserve this, the Icicle Badge."

As she spoke, Candice handed Will the badge, which was shaped like an iceberg. She then continued speaking, though specifically to Will.

"I'm proud of you, Will. You've grown, even in only two days. I'm not sure what the two of you did," Candice paused to glance at Pyro and Dawn. "But you did great."

Pyro and Dawn grinned broadly at that, and a ghost of a smile even flitted across Will's face once more.

"Thank you, Candice," he said sincerely. "We'll keep making you proud."

Without hesitation, she replied, "I know you will—all of you."

With that, she nodded one more time with a smile before she took her leave, heading back to her office behind the battlefield, taking Marvin, whom had been watching with a scowl, with her. Now alone, Will, Pyro, and Dawn looked at each other.

"Guys…" Will began, trailing off. "We did it. We got our first gym badge."

Pyro and Dawn cheered at that, thrilled to be one step closer to the Pokemon League, and, for the first time in a long while, Will genuinely smiled. It went unnoticed by his teammates, however, who were dancing around excitedly.

 _We're getting stronger_ , he thought. _And soon, no one will be able to hurt us anymore._

With that thought planted in his mind, Will began to walk towards the exit, calling behind, "Let's go, guys. You've both earned a break and a good meal."

Pyro and Dawn wasted no time in running ahead when they heard that, racing each other to the pokemon center. Will watched them go with another smile, though smaller than the last.

 _We're getting stronger._

* * *

 **Thanks to all of you for reading! We're officially finished with the Snowpoint City segment of the Strength Arc! This means that we're on to Eterna City! It'll take a bit to get there as these two cities are not super close, so there's going to be a lot of action leading up to it!**

 **After writing these past two chapters, I've decided to stick with the capitalization (or rather, lack thereof) that I changed to. Speaking only in regards to my story, I think that not capitalizing pokemon names will help to accentuate the divide over pokemon/human rights. You might catch some slip ups now and then that come from years of reading/writing pokemon with capitalization, but I hope that you'll look past it :) If you have any issues with this, I apologize, but as of right now, I have no plans to change back.**

 **Thanks again!**

 **1\. What are your thoughts on Dawn's first battle?**

 **2\. What are your two or three favorite scenes/small parts of chapters from the first part of the Strength Arc?**

 **3\. What do you want to see more of now that we're going into the Eterna City segment?**

 **4\. Anything you'd like to see improved going into the next arc, be it grammar or plot?**

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** _A Frosty Rematch!_

Finished with the Snowpoint City Gym, Will and the team have no further reason to stay in Snowpoint, so they begin their journey in earnest. However, they aren't walking for long before Dawn meets someone from her past, and she seems less than pleased by the reunion! Just who is this pokemon!?

* * *

 **Strength Arc:**

 **Eterna City:**

 **Chapter 10:** _He's Back!_

 **Chapter 11:** _Lesson Two_

 **Chapter 12:** _Experiential Learning!_

 **Chapter 13:** _Crossing Through Coronet!_

 **Chapter 14:** _Doom, Gloom, and Demise!_


End file.
